Targeted ads will listen to your playlists and podcasts

SXM Media, the company behind popular US satellite radio station Sirius XM as well as music and podcast streaming services Pandora and Stitcher, has announced a new “listener identity solution” called AudioID, which will monitor users’ music and podcast tastes to offer targeted advertisements. The solution is meant to unify the company’s understanding of users across its various digital audio environments, according to ad VP Maria Breza.

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While SXM already passes data such as age, gender and zip code to advertisers, along with running speech-to-text programs on many of its podcasts, the newly announced AudioID will also monitor what the users are listening to, giving ad makers yet another identifier to make targeted ads.

“The product will leverage datasets across the tens of millions of known Pandora, SiriusXM, and Stitcher listeners, matching them to create AudioIDs. This will allow for a better ad experience for consumers, marketers, and publishers, tapping into listener behavior and preferences in a way that supports the future of identity safety while helping marketers achieve their goals,” read a statement by SXM media.

“We are entering a new era of identity – both in culture and in technology – that defines us not by who we are on paper or the cookies we leave behind, but by our interests and passions,” said Chris Record, senior vice president and head of ad product, technology and operations at SXM Media and AdsWizz.