iHM To Acquire Ad-Tech Start-Up Jelli

iHeartMedia today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Jelli, Inc., the technology company that powers its SoundPoint programmatic platform.

The Jelli platform is the pioneering technology foundation for programmatic buying and selling of broadcast radio, and this acquisition will enable iHeartMedia to further leverage Jelli’s assets to continue to create for brands a digital-compatible buying platform for broadcast radio that includes targeting and creative optimization based on data and attribution tools compatible with the offerings of the major digital players. In addition, “Expressway from Katz,” the industry’s programmatic buying ad exchange for the country’s leading radio groups, will continue to remain independently run by Katz, powered by Jelli.

Broadcast radio is the #1 mass reach medium reaching 93 percent of the U.S. population and engaging consumers longer than even the largest digital platforms. While broadcast radio has the highest consumer engagement of any major medium, prior to the 2015 launch of SoundPoint --  iHeartMedia’s groundbreaking programmatic and automated ad buying solution powered by Jelli -- broadcast radio had lacked the targetability and real-time automated interface that digital offers.

Brian Kaminsky

The SoundPoint platform allows advertisers and agencies to leverage iHeartMedia’s broadcast stations through both its radio and digital organizations, delivering both strong results and digital compatible analytics.

“Facebook and Google pioneered a new way for advertisers to interface with media partners to improve targetability, the ease of buying and measurement of results, and our programmatic platform puts us in the position to participate in the modern data driven ecosystem for our broadcast radio audience as well as our digital audiences,” said Brian Kaminsky, President of SmartAudio® and Analytics Group for iHeartMedia.  “We have been excited by the advances we made with Jelli as our partner and the acceptance from our advertising partners.”

Bob Pittman

“At iHeart we believe marketing is both math and magic.  The math is our rich data and insights about our users and how they relate to our partners’ products and services -- and the magic is the incredible creative ideas we bring to our partners, such as our iconic music events, award shows, influencers, podcasts, social reach and our unique on air promotions. Jelli allows us to do something no other company can do -- advertisers can now buy and use our broadcast assets, reach and impact just as they use the major digital players. We now offer heavy data and heavy creative innovation all in one place,” said Bob Pittman, Chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia, Inc. “We are excited about having Jelli not only for the platforms they are creating and have created for us, but also to lead our aggressive and innovative ad tech development.”

Over the past decade, Jelli has transformed radio broadcasting by creating the first cloud-based platform to support and improve the audio ecosystem, making it easier and faster to buy and run audio advertising.

As part of the acquisition, Jelli will continue to operate as a company within iHeartMedia, Inc. led by President and CEO Michael Dougherty and his team. The Jelli division will continue to be based in Silicon Valley and will become iHeartMedia’s primary ad technology operation.