Amazon’s audio app Audible has consolidated its global paid media with Group M’s Wavemaker following a competitive review.
Audible’s media planning and buying was previously handled by various agencies, including Hearts & Science in the UK.
Audible operates marketplace services in 10 geographies: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, India, Japan and Australia. It spends around $500 million on media every year.
Audible is a platform that provides over 700,000 audiobooks, podcasts, and Audible Originals.
It is understood that a call for tenders was sent out late last year to all major media companies, including Interpublic Group, Omnicom, WPP, Publicis Groupe and Havas.
The review process, supported by ID Comms, was led by Audible’s Chief Financial Officer and Chief Growth Officer, Cynthia Chu, and Executive Vice President, International, Susan Jurevics.
“Wavemaker’s dynamic approach to media will help Audible reach many more potential customers around the world, and its global experience will bring a nuanced and individualized approach to each market in which we serve,” said Chu.
Wavemaker’s global media clients include Mondelez, L’Oreal, ViacomCBS, Coinbase and DoorDash.
Wavemaker’s Global Managing Director, Toby Jenner, said, “We’ve developed bespoke principles to drive Audible’s next level of performance, which will leverage our industry-leading data and technology capabilities.
“We couldn’t be more excited to work with Audible and its teams around the world. We are two very culturally aligned companies with our vision for the future.”
Wavemaker is currently championing a European offline media review of BMW Group, which aims to consolidate the automaker’s brands under a single group of agencies. Recently, it lost most of B&Q’s parent company, Kingfisher, to a multi-market European review.
