Horizon Next Partners with ArtsAI on Proprietary Cross-Platform Audio Measurement Framework

Driving Increased ROI, Optimization and Accountability for Audio Investments

NEW YORK, May 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- As the audio industry continues to evolve, brands require more sophisticated measurement platforms than currently available to determine accurate and actionable attribution insights across multiple channels and tactics. Driving client solutions, Horizon Next and ArtsAI, a Claritas company and leading third-party attribution platform, today announced a strategic partnership bringing an enhanced audio analytics solution for increased transparency to a channel that has historically been difficult to measure and optimize.

Through this partnership, Horizon Next has enhanced Intersect, its proprietary analytics platform to include audio attribution. With the ability to incorporate real-time data and performance results across channels and tactics into its models, Horizon Next is empowering brands to optimize and scale their media investments. With broadcast radio, streaming audio, podcasting and satellite campaigns, this enhanced capability allows Horizon Next to assess audio's contribution to client KPI's and provide omni-channel measurement and optimization across traditional and digital channels.

This strategic partnership and approach also enables individual level media exposure and return path data to tie back to Horizon's proprietary identify-based framework and connected marketing platform, blu. This provides additional insights into how buys are delivering against various granular level audiences.

"We have always been committed to pushing the envelope when it comes to innovation and attribution. As the first agency to measure OTT at scale as well as the first to provide guardrails around attributing offline media, finding a solution for audio attribution was inevitable for us," said Gene Turner, President, Horizon Next. "This unlock brings more rigor and accountability to the audio space and provides substantial opportunities for our clients, and we believe provides an opportunity to leverage audio in a bigger way for our clients to drive accelerated growth."

"We can now prove audio tactics deliver positive performance results across multiple KPIs compared to other channels using the same methodology," said Lauren Russo, EVP Managing Partner, Innovation & Performance Audio, Horizon Media. "This refined solution is a game changer giving Audio a more prominent seat at the table on media plans."

The robust reporting includes demo/audience segment measurement and impression delivery, incrementality lift, advanced insights with optimization recommendations, creative insights, performance and conversions by device, time of day, day of week, unit length and DMA.

Many clients are embracing the enhanced capability and reporting insights including but not limited to Sling, Bob's Discount Furniture, eharmony and Sleep Number to assess performance results, ROI and uncover actionable optimizations.

"Horizon Next has taken holistic audio measurement to the next level and rolled out agency-wide," said Erik Lundberg, Chief Growth Officer, Media & Agency at Claritas. "By ingesting our measurement data and audience insights into their proprietary technology platforms, and running their own advanced analytics models, taking into account other channels like OTT, video, and display, they are able to uncover for their marketer clients the true impact audio investment has on the bottom line. They're also able to make advanced optimizations to increase return on audio ad spend even further."

The Audio landscape continues to evolve with multiple platform & device options for consumption. Ad product innovation, enhancements in technology, data and measurement are shaping the future of Audio.

About Horizon Next

Horizon Next is headquartered in New York with additional offices in Toronto. Horizon Next has 636 employees and manages over $3.8B in client investments. Under the entrepreneurial leadership of Gene Turner, President, the group has grown into one of the industry's most innovative and data-driven marketing organizations. Horizon Next partners with clients to provide strategic leadership, brand strategy, media planning and investment, data strategy, campaign measurement and reporting, advanced analytics, and optimization across all channels.

About Horizon Media 

Horizon Media, the largest U.S. media agency according to Ad Age Data Center 2023, delivers data-driven business outcomes for some of the most innovative and ambitious brands. Founded in 1989, headquartered in New York, and with offices in Los Angeles and Toronto, the company employs 2,400 people and has media investments of more than $8.5 billion. Horizon Media's fundamental belief is that business is personal, which drives its approach to connecting brands with their customers and engaging with its own employees resulting in industry-leading workplace satisfaction levels (Glassdoor). The company is consistently recognized by independent media outlets for its client excellence and has earned several "Best Workplaces" awards reflecting its commitment to DEI and the life and well-being of everyone at Horizon Media.

About Claritas

For almost five decades, Claritas has been a trailblazer in understanding the American consumer, resulting in the industry's most embraced audience segmentation. Leveraging strategic acquisitions and a distinctive Identity Graph, the company has evolved into a marketing powerhouse. Today, Claritas provides an integrated marketing optimization platform that enables marketers to enhance ROI by pinpointing ideal audiences, executing multichannel marketing engagements, and optimizing media spend across online and offline channels through precise attribution and incremental lift reporting. The recent addition of ArtsAI bolsters Claritas' robust measurement solutions with trusted, AI-driven technology for modern marketers, agencies, and media companies across all digital platforms as well as broadcast radio. With an accuracy-first foundation, the robust Claritas Identity Graph serves as the engine that drives these powerful solutions, encompassing a proprietary data set including 100% of U.S. adult consumers, over 1 billion devices and 10,000+ demographic and behavioral insights. The integration of patented and advanced AI technology as an underpin enhances the accuracy, speed, ease of use and scale of the Claritas solutions. https://claritas.com/artsai-audio-attribution/

SOURCE Horizon Media