Capitol Broadcasting doubles ad revenue with SoundStack

It switched to open, robust programmatic ad tech in fall of 2022.

Radio World Buyer’s Guide articles are intended to help readers understand why their colleagues chose particular products to solve various technical situations. This month’s articles focus on products that support streaming, podcasting and online content delivery.

With a slate of popular broadcasts and podcasts, Capitol Broadcasting, based in Raleigh, N.C., works hard to ensure its shows earn as much ad revenue as possible so they can continue to inform and entertain their avid listeners.

Adding new programmatic demand partners to fill more inventory was difficult; Capitol needed a monetization partner that could also connect them to incremental advertiser demand easily.

Also, using two different systems to manage streaming and podcasting, Capitol’s team was doing extra work to traffic, optimize and analyze their ads and audience. Getting a single and simple view of overall performance was difficult.

“Managing streaming and podcast distribution from separate platforms created needless duplication in reporting and ad scheduling. We wanted a single platform that could manage both,” said Anita Normanly, director of podcast operations.

Capitol moved streaming and podcast delivery/monetization to SoundStack in the fall of 2022. Opening up its audio inventory on an independent platform, with direct connections to multiple demand partners, Capitol ensured that more advertisers would have access to the audiences they value the most, allowing them to fill more inventory. The organization more than doubled ad revenue in five months by selling each impression to the highest-paying advertiser.

The move allowed them to unify management and reporting, of both podcasting and streaming, in one system, cutting workload in half. It also gave Capitol access to features like reliable geotargeting, blackouts for exclusive sporting events and provide targeted emergency alerts. RadioWorld