Independent media agency Butler/Till has partnered with audio leader iHeartMedia to complete the advertising industry’s first agentic streaming audio campaign, marking a milestone where premium audio inventory was acquired via an autonomous, AI-driven media buying workflow. Executed on behalf of a U.S. agricultural solutions client under human strategic governance, the campaign demonstrated that agentic buying delivers streaming audio 42 percent more efficiently than traditional direct buying benchmarks while boosting high-value, non-skippable mid-roll podcast ad allocations from 33 percent to 48 percent.
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Highlighting the strategic potential of the partnership, “Every major transformation in media begins with a first and we’re proud to partner with iHeart on this industry milestone,” said Scott Ensign, Chief Strategy Officer at Butler/Till. “Programmatic buying, private marketplaces and connected TV each redefined how media was bought and sold. Agentic media is the next evolution. This campaign demonstrates that AI can execute media buying within human-defined strategy and governance, creating a faster, smarter marketplace for advertisers and publishers alike. iHeart combines premium inventory with the unmatched scale of broadcast radio, making them an ideal partner to help bring this innovation to market.” The activation establishes a scalable blueprint for expanding AI-driven transactions across broadcast radio and digital channels.