iHeart, Butler/Till Launch Agentic Audio Campaign

RADIO ONLINE | Thursday, August 20, 2026 | 2:48pm CT

iHeartMedia and Butler/Till

Butler/Till and iHeartMedia have completed what the companies describe as the advertising industry's first agentic streaming audio media campaign, using an AI-powered workflow to purchase premium streaming audio inventory.

The campaign was launched for an unnamed U.S. agricultural solutions company and used artificial intelligence to participate directly in media buying while operating within advertiser-defined objectives, business rules and human oversight.

Unlike traditional automated buying systems that follow predefined workflows, agentic media buying allows AI agents to evaluate campaign objectives, identify opportunities and execute approved buying decisions dynamically. Human teams remain responsible for strategy, governance and oversight.

The companies said the campaign also produced measurable efficiencies. The agentic buy delivered streaming audio 42% more efficiently than the advertiser's traditional direct-buying benchmark.

In podcasting, 48% of impressions were delivered in high-value, non-skippable mid-roll positions, compared with 33% allocated to mid-roll placements under the advertiser's traditional plan. Butler/Till and iHeart said those gains were achieved while maintaining access to comparable premium inventory.

"We're constantly exploring new opportunities for brands to connect with audiences at scale and pioneering new ways to modernize audio advertising, making it more accessible, efficient and effective," said iHeartMedia Chief Business Officer Lisa Coffey.

Coffey said the Butler/Till campaign demonstrates how AI could create a more dynamic and efficient advertising marketplace while maintaining the quality, scale and accountability advertisers expect.

The streaming campaign is also a precursor to iHeartMedia's plans for its broadcast business. The company said it expects to make broadcast radio inventory available through agentic transactions later this year.

That initiative builds on iHeart's recently introduced AudioGraph platform, which is designed to bring digital-style targeting, identity-based planning, measurement and attribution to broadcast radio.

Until now, agentic media buying has largely been confined to channels already available through programmatic advertising systems. Extending the technology to broadcast radio would bring agentic transactions to inventory traditionally purchased outside those systems.