The Echo Nest Expands To Digital Music Advertising

The Echo Nest is expanding its existing music intelligence platform to digital music advertising with the introduction of its Music Audience Understanding solution.

 The company calls it a breakthrough offering that enables highly targeted advertising by using music preference to predict high-value demographic and psychographic advertising segments without personally identifiable information.

The Echo Nest's new solution builds on its existing platform to help ad-supported music services more effectively monetize inventory, help music ad networks command higher CPMs, and help advertisers reach targeted audiences more efficiently and affordably through a more data-driven understanding of their target audience's musical footprint.

Initial customers of The Echo Nest's Music Audience Understanding solution include TargetSpot, the world's largest digital audio advertising network, as well as several ad-supported music services.

The introduction of Music Audience Understanding builds upon The Echo Nest's Music Discovery and Personalization and Dynamic Music Data. The company powers personalized, streaming music and radio experiences for the world's top digital music services including Rdio, Clear Channel's iHeartRadio, Rhapsody and SiriusXM, and has developed personalized, branded music apps for Reebok, Microsoft, Knorr Foods, and other top brands.

Jim Lucchese

"With streaming becoming mainstream, music consumption has moved from a broadcast, push-only experience, to a two-way, personalized conversation with each fan. This switch opens up a new world of opportunities for music services to more deeply understand musical identity and create more personalized, social and profitable music experiences," said Jim Lucchese, CEO of The Echo Nest.

"The $15 billion broadcast radio advertising industry is based around the well-accepted notion that music is a powerful proxy to audience. We saw an opportunity early on and invested over two years of R&D to help music services turn anonymous listening behavior into high-value audience segments for advertising. The Echo Nest can now analyze music taste and predict non-music affinities in high-value advertising segments."

With Music Audience Understanding, digital music services and ad networks can partner with The Echo Nest to grow advertising revenue by delivering the level of audience segmentation and targeting online advertisers expect, without requiring personally identifiable information or purchasing third-party data.

Real-time segments available with Music Audience Understanding today include:

• Music fans' age and gender;
• Music fans' affinity for 20 lifestyle categories (e.g. Foodies, Gamers, Pro Sports);
• Music fans affinity for 710+ music genres; and
• Music behavioral segments such as "Mainstreamness" and "Freshness."