Amazon Adds SiriusXM to Programmatic Sales Offer

After securing many big deals to help it sell a wide array of programmatic ads against top video, Amazon is now working to do the same with audio.

Amazon unveiled an alliance Tuesday with SiriusXM Media that allows advertisers using the online giant’s demand-side platform to buy up programmatic advertising inventory from the audio player, the latest in a series of similar alliances media companies have been striking in recent months. Amazon unveiled a similar agreement with Netflix last week and with Disney in June. Amazon’s DSP will let marketers reach listeners who listen to SiriusXM’s portfolio of streaming music channels, and plans to expand that to SiriusXM’s array of podcasts.

“By combining Amazon’s diverse audiences and first-party insights with SiriusXM’s premium audio content, we’re fundamentally reimagining how audio can be integrated into comprehensive advertising strategies,” said Meredith Goldman, director of Amazon DSP at Amazon Ads, in a prepared statement. “Our relationship exemplifies our commitment to providing advertisers with unrivaled opportunity across all media channels, including audio, which has become an increasingly vital component of the consumer journey.”

Such alliances may help as Madison Avenue grapples with a glut of broadband-TV inventory on the market, much of the supply growing due to the entrance of both Amazon and Netflix into ad-supported streaming. The new partnership deals primarily with so-called “programmatic” advertising, or digital inventory that gets bought based on algorithms that define qualities of the specific consumers being sought by a marketer. The hope is that giving marketers the chance to buy a broader set of programmatic inventory from a single venue might reduce the number of commercials they show to the same consumer, and improve the effectiveness of commercials by distributing them with more precision.

“We are thrilled to bring our premium audio inventory into Amazon DSP,” said Sherene Hilal, SiriusXM’s chief advertising product officer, in a statement SiriusXM. “For the first time, brands can pair Amazon’s first-party insights with our audio content for smarter audience reach and full-funnel measurement that proves the impact of digital audio. As we look to close the gap between time spent with audio and ad spend and ensure audio is part of every media mix, this partnership marks a major step forward for programmatic audio, delivering the scale, precision, and audience-driven insights that brands need.”