In a deal with Google, SiriusXM Media will become the sole advertising representative of YouTube audio advertising inventory in the United States.
SiriusXM said it is unusual for YouTube to open its ad inventory to an outside partner. It said the agreement demonstrates how audio consumption is growing and changing, and said it is trying to close a gap between the high percentage of time spent by consumers with audio vs. a low percentage of ad spending on audio platforms.
SiriusXM Media and Edison Research said approximately 212 million monthly listeners in the U.S. engage in audio-first content or environments on YouTube.
“YouTube had the early insight that quite a lot of the content and behavior consumption on its platform was surprisingly audio-centric, and moved quickly to monetize it,” according to a summary of the announcement from SiriusXM.
“This continues to move podcasting toward a more open ecosystem, something we’ve long fought for. In addition to distributing SiriusXM Podcast Network shows on our own platforms as well as wherever podcast consumption happens … with this deal we’re also now selling interstitial audio ads across all podcast content on YouTube, whether part of our network or not.”
The announcement was made by Scott Walker, SiriusXM’s chief advertising revenue officer, and Romana Pawar, senior director of product, YouTube Ads.
