Music streaming giant Pandora announced Wednesday that it has inked a deal to acquire AdsWizz, a digital audio ad tech firm, for $145 million in cash and stock.
Pandora said the addition will upgrade its own ad tech systems, provide advertisers with greater reach and open up new revenue opportunities.
Following an integration, advertisers will be able to transact through AdsWizz’s marketplace across Pandora and other top audio publishers, Pandora said. Pandora said it will also support AdsWizz’s core business.
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In addition to Pandora, AdsWizz’s customers include Spotify, Cox Media Group, Rogers Communications, Deezer, Omnicom MediaGroup, and PodcastOne, among others. Its demand-side partners include The Trade Desk, MediaMath, TubeMogul (now part of Adobe), and AppNexus.
Alexis van de Wyer will remain CEO of AdsWizz, which will become a subsidiary of Pandora when the deal is closed.
“Since I joined Pandora six months ago, I have highlighted ad tech as a key area of investment for us,” Roger Lynch, Pandora’s CEO, said in a statement. “Today we took an important step to advance that priority and accelerate our product roadmap. With our scale in audio advertising and AdsWizz’s tech expertise, we will create the largest digital audio advertising ecosystem, better serving global publishers and advertisers — while improving Pandora’s own monetization capabilities.”
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