Stand up for your partners in 2025

“The world needs independent ad tech companies at scale that aren’t conflicted… It just makes a lot of sense.”

Why do independent tech platforms really matter? The above quote from Mediaocean CEO Bill Wise (made in reference to their acquisition of Innovid a few weeks ago) focuses on a core part of it – the commitment to keeping media and technology separate. It’s about fairness – removing any biases to ad transactions so every buyer and seller has an equal shot at success (and it is, of course, just as core to audio as it is to video). 

But a bigger point emerges from that. It’s ultimately about where independent tech platforms choose to put their focus broadly – that is, on their partners and their ability to control their own destinies. 

To be clear, as much as possible, we use the term “partners” instead of “customers.” We do it for a reason: partnership is a real relationship. And, like any relationship, it’s built on working together to mutual benefit. 

What happens when you start to think about your customer engagements as relationships? For one, you focus on listening. There’s obviously more tech innovation out there than there ever has been, and it’s helping every kind of audio business to become more efficient and successful. But – and this might be a little odd to say – it’s often too “easy” for this industry to just rely on tech for that success. A relationship is work, and when you truly put in that work – hearing your partner’s specific pain points and aspirations, making plans based specifically on what they need, and bringing in the right tools to help – the rewards are always greater for all sides.

This year, for example, we partnered with a broadcaster to untangle their legacy setup and transition smoothly from their two previous vendors to SoundStack. It wasn’t just about the migration—we worked hand-in-hand to help them truly understand their streaming configuration. By providing access to meaningful data they’d never had before, we empowered them to inform their decisions based on what was best for their business. The result? Fewer missed ad breaks, cleaner configurations, streamlined vendor management, happier audiences, and stronger revenue.

This is our pledge to partners, and to the market at large, going into 2025. As we continue to roll out new products and features that help audio publishers – to connect more directly to the partners of their choice, to have transparent, objective insight into how their business is doing, and more – our commitment to service remains just as firm. 

In forging real relationships that solve real problems and bear more fruit for everyone, we effectively all become heroes to each other. And because audio generally is, in a sense, still “fighting” for parity with other channels (for ad budgets, as one example), standing up for your partner means standing up for the audio market overall too.

A very happy holiday to everyone!