Octave Expands UK Audio Reach With New Third-Party Inventory Deals

Octave, News UK's audio-visual advertising platform, has secured new inventory access from four premium, broadcast-quality streaming audio publishers in the UK, taking its monthly connected-listener reach to 15.5 million.

The additions comprise Audiomack, the artist-first and diverse music streaming service, which has entered an exclusive UK representation arrangement via AdsWizz to reach its engaged Gen Z user base; Sonos, whose premium smart speaker inventory delivers hard-to-reach ABC1 audiences, also via AdsWizz; Boom Radio, whose family of stations serves a highly engaged 55+ audience, with its streaming supply now part of Octave's portfolio; and CountryLine Radio, the UK's dedicated country music station reaching listeners on DAB, its apps and select streaming partners, with Octave representing its digital inventory.

The moves form part of Octave's strategy to combine a targeted network of high-quality third-party audio partners with its owned and operated channels. Octave's core audio comes from News UK brands including talkSPORT, Virgin Radio UK, Times Radio and The Times & Sunday Times podcast slate, with partnerships extending and enhancing that audience.

These audio additions sit alongside Octave's wider video footprint, which includes the ability to sell YouTube inventory directly across News UK's own video output such as talkSPORT, as well as carefully chosen partners including SoundCloud. Together, Octave now offers brands premium audio-visual audiences at scale, with a combined monthly reach of 27 million, underpinned by powerful first-party data.

Russell Pedrick, Managing Director, Octave, said: "This is an important step in the realisation of our long-term strategic audio goals. We've got a valuable core of our own audio brands such as talkSPORT, Virgin Radio and Times Radio, and these partnerships help us to build on that with additional reach into valuable and engaged audiences. These deals will enable us to layer our rich, first-party data across a wider listener portfolio, helping our advertiser partners to reach larger and more diverse audiences.

"Sitting alongside our video inventory and the wider News UK portfolio, with these deals we can offer brands a unique combination of digital audio, CTV, video and display at scale, all underpinned with trusted, first party data."

The announcement follows the unveiling of Octaveai, Octave's automated audio creative generation and optimisation platform, designed to help brands of all sizes easily produce and refine audio ads across the company's inventory.

Paul Brown, VP, European Business and Operations, AdsWizz, said: "We are excited to announce this new agreement for Octave to represent ad sales across our streaming music inventory for Audiomack and Sonos in the UK. These deals will give brands a powerful way to reach engaged, diverse audiences across the UK, driven by Octave's commercial expertise in this growing market."

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