April 2, 2026 • 36 mins
Chief Business Officer at iHeartMedia, Lisa Coffey has run the gamut in media sales. She started out as part of traditional media, at newspapers like USA Today and The Wall Street Journal and at the magazines of Time Inc. Then she made the jump to digital, first at LinkedIn and then spending a decade at Amazon before being named Chief Revenue Officer at LoopMe. Now she’s working across traditional broadcast radio along with podcasts, music, digital radio and live events. She’s currently leading the charge to transform advertising on broadcast and talks about collaborating with TikTok, setting shared goals, and how she's helped bring ‘Guaranteed Human’ to life at iHeart.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
You're listening to Math and Magic, a production of iHeart podcasts.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
And I earned trustman earned the trust of my clients, right,
That's what I was there to do. What I learned
quickly is that earning trust component was about your colleagues,
so you can move business forward in unique ways and
being able to understand what somebody else wanted and what
were their goals for the year, and how you could
help them meet them while meeting your own, and so
(00:29):
how to partner with somebody to really meet the greater
good of the business. Hi.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
I am Bob Pittman, and welcome to this episode of
Math and Magic. Today, I've got someone's well unique soone
I work with one of my colleagues who has a
unique view of the future of advertising and the long
history and media. Lisa Coffee, Chief business Officer at iHeartMedia.
Lisa grew up in Long Island, New York, and she
has run the gamut imedius sales from traditional media newspapers
(01:02):
at USA Today, at Wall Street Journal magazines, at Time,
Inche and then she made the jump to what used
to be called new media at LinkedIn and then did
ten years in Amazon and a number of roles including
building the agency team that brought Amazon advertising to the
US marketplace, and finally she was at Loop Me as
Global cro She still lives on Long Island, loves voting,
(01:25):
She has fun and a brilliant colleague, Lisa. Welcome, Thanks
for having me. Bob, Well delighted to have you here.
Before we get started, I want to do you in
sixty seconds. Ready to go sounds great cats are dogs
dogs early riser or night out both.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
I burn it on both ends.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Protein or carbs, protein, sweet or savory sweet. TikTok Instagram or.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
X Instagram because of our partnership, probably converted to TikTok recently.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Great loyal introvert or extrovert, extrovert, beach mountains, beach cook
or read out cook call or.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Text should always call.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
It's about to get harder. All time favorite music artist.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Hobby bun Joby. I just have the honor of meeting
him first job on a farm stand.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Favorite all time movie Top Gun, Your go to radio station,
Z one hundred.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Favorite podcast A Certain Age by Katie Foverdy.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
The key to being class Mom, knowing all the kids,
smartest person you know my mom. Favorite ad campaign ever,
Fundweiser always crushes it with your Clydesdale's advice for your
kids before they go off to college, be personable, best
advice you ever got, always follow up And finally, favorite
(02:45):
place to visit.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
My parents beach cottage on the North Fork.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Ooh great, well let's jump in.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Now.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
You spend a lot of time in media that lost
a lot of its users magazine's newspapers, etc. Then you
want to meet that was growing like a weed LinkedIn, Amazon, etc.
Now you're at a company that has huge growth new
businesses like digital radio, music, podcasting of major events, but
also has radio, which has been around forever, but unlike
(03:14):
almost all other traditional media, radio is stronger than ever.
You and I both agree that we surprise people when
we tell them that actually we have more radio listeners
today that we did ten years ago, and even twenty
years ago, and nine and ten Americans listen to the
radio every month, and they listened to Iheart's broadcast radio
every month. It turns out, unlike TV that was just
(03:36):
a delivery system for programs that consumers liked, that they
really think about radio a different way. It's a companion.
Whereas the average person watches probably forty TV networks in
a month, they only listen to two or three radio stations.
So here's the question, how do you communicate that so
radio doesn't get lumped in with broadcast TV and traditional
(04:01):
media that's been declining. How do you explain the enduring
power of radio.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
I think what's resonating most when I'm talking to clients
or even friends is that radio personalities are the original influencers.
And that seems to really open people's eyes because all
of a sudden they say, Wow, you're right about that.
You know, when you listen to the radio show in
(04:28):
the morning, you realize that the radio hosts are actually
talking about exactly what happened the night before, either on
the field, on the red carpet, or in the news.
And this is what influencers are doing now. They're trying
to be in the moment. And that is exactly what
radio does, being in the moment, live and amplifying, and
(04:51):
it resonates with people in a unique way.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Yeah, we do keep people company. Sort of forget how
much we need that companionship exactly. Culture is so important.
We often talk about culture as the operating system for
a company USA Today Wall Street Journal, to timing, to LinkedIn,
and Amazon. What did you see in those cultures, the good,
(05:15):
the bad, And how do you think culture affects the
operations of any company.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Culture always starts with your people, and yet it starts
at the top, right, and what kind of culture you
want to create for the company. Someplace like Time Inc.
Was very much about the content and the variety of
content we had across magazines and the assets of each
of those, whether it be Sports Illustrated or whether it
(05:42):
be Fortune Magazine and the most Powerful Women's Summit or
Sports Illustrated and some of their spotlight issues. And the
culture was built very much around that content. It's what
you were selling. It was what you were representing those
personalities and repute patients. And then you know, you think
about a place like LinkedIn. It was very much about
(06:04):
linking in and community and how you connected with people
and how you leverage those connections within the platform, and
that came through in the culture there. When I went
to Amazon, it was all about the process. It was
almost very little about the people. It was how well
the people executed the process that Jeff Vezos had implemented
(06:26):
twenty five thirty years ago, which was making sure you
had mechanisms in place, processes, in place, dock writing is
a big part of the culture, and all of those
things that Amazon were what created the culture, and not
so much the people. Such three different cultures across those
(06:46):
companies and now at iHeart, it reminds me most of
that time at Time inc because it's very much about
all of the amazing assets that iHeart has that we
get to talk about on a daily basis, whether it
be a radio personality, a great podcaster, an incredible tent
(07:07):
pole event like jingle Ball. You see the excitement on
the employees, You see the excitement on meetings and client
calls about our overall assets, and it drives the culture
of community. It really shines through and that the employees
are so proud of that. It's just a really cool
thing to see on a daily basis.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
It's interesting somebody new comes into the mix. We have
a group of executives and suddenly there you are, as
are chief business officer. It's interesting you are sort of
a look at our whole group of folks. You are
extraordinarily level headed, even keel, thoughtful. Nothing seems to ruffle you.
Is that you or was that culture you developed from
(07:51):
these different companies thank you.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
You know it comes from my upbringing, my parents, my family,
having a strong foundation. I stay level headed because there's
nothing to kind of get flustered by. It's everything is digestible, solvable,
being solution oriented and making sure that you choose the
best path forward. And so I don't get flustered because
(08:15):
I see things as a challenge and a great opportunity.
I like using the words challenge and opportunity interchangeable because
challenge almost sounds negative. My god, here's a real challenge.
But I take challenges as opportunities because that's what they are.
If you face a challenge, it's an exciting time to
figure out are you going to choose this path or
that path, and assessing what the potential outcomes of each
(08:37):
one are. And so just being level headed is seeing
things as an opportunity to solve.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Loop Me was your last stop before iHeart. How did
it change your view of advertising?
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Lou Me was such an interesting place for me. I
learned so much at Amazon about ad tech, and loop
Me allowed me really to get much more closer and
under the hood around the supply and demand sides of
the business. It opened up my eyes to the advertising
industry and recognizing how interoperable the industry is, being able
(09:14):
to bolt on measurement or being able to move supply
into one system into another, how to increase demand against
certain supply. Probably my job where I had the biggest
learning curve because it was more of the guts of
the industry that I had never truly been exposed to,
and so it opened my eyes on the complexity of
(09:37):
the industry and yet the simplicity of the industry.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
You had some really interesting stops along the way. Huge brands,
I mean, Time Make may not seem as relevant today,
but at the moment you were there, it was one
of the biggest media companies in America with an enormous
footprint and impact. Same with Wall Street Journal USA Today, etc.
What lessons did you learn that you bring with you
today and this sort of have become a part of you.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
I think trust and transparency was one of the biggest
quarterstones of Time Inc. We worked a lot with the
editorial team, and I always respected how they really kept
the separation between church and state and how important that was.
That was a big learning or a great thing to
(10:26):
see because I knew at the time there were so
many other editorial properties out there that were really doing
things for the advertiser. And I loved that time. INC
really kept that separation between church and state. It allowed
me to learn how to uphold the standards of the industry.
And I would have to say, I think that's really
continued throughout my career and making sure that you don't
(10:48):
fold for the wrong reasons and you really want to
keep the authenticity and true brand integrate. I hang the
time at Amazon. You know, Amazon is a culture built
leadership principles, and the one that I just love was
earned trust. And it's funny because when I was when
I got there as a salesperson, I always saw earned
(11:10):
trusts meant earned the trust of my clients, right, That's
what I was there to do. I was there to
sell advertising, and I needed them to trust me so
I could bring them along for the ride. And what
I learned quickly, specifically at Amazon because of how big
it was and how many different parts of the business
they were, is that earning trust component was about your
colleagues and earning trust with other individuals so you can
(11:34):
move business forward in unique ways and being able to
understand what somebody else wanted and needed to achieve what
were their goals for the year, and how you could
help them meet them while meeting your own, and so
how to partner with somebody to really meet the greater
good of the business and earned trust is truly one
(11:55):
that I have applied everywhere in my career and it
really has become a guy principle in my life overall.
That's how I approach, you know, getting to iHeart and
really hard coming to iHeart when people have been here,
you know, fifteen years, it's like the average time ten
to fifteen years the people have been here and being new,
you quickly recognize that you have to earn trust of others,
(12:18):
have them understand what your goals are, what you're trying
to obtain for the greater good of the business, and
how you can help others meet their goals through achieving
different objectives that we set together. A great example I
have is just around when we launched the Amazon firephone,
which many may not remember because it did not succeed.
(12:39):
It was one of probably Amazon's biggest failures at the
time because we thought launching a phone would be easy
and it certainly wasn't. But that was truly a collective,
multi team effort from my business, you know, I called
on the telcos and how to get the telcos on
board with the potential advertising opportunities, to also working with
(13:04):
the telco team who had the partnerships with not just
the phone OEMs but also the telco companies, and how
we approached them to launch a net new product that
was potentially going to disrupt the industry. And there was
so many aspects of that that if we had not
worked together as a team, we would have been competing
(13:27):
against each other. And establishing that trust and understanding what
each of our goals and objectives were of those different
business units allowed us to be able to go to
market in a way that was a collective approach to
the industry and what we were trying to achieve. Now, granted,
like I said, it certainly wasn't a success, but it
(13:48):
was probably the most integrated way I had worked across
all of Amazon. And that's where really earning trust and
it was early on in my career at Amazon, and
that's where it really allowed me to understand what it
meant across the organization.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
You know, it's interesting our place, someone years ago added
something to our thought process, which was we don't win
or lose. We either win or we learned something. And
I suspect Amazon learned a lot from the firephone.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Oh yes, that phone actually was the basis of Alexa,
and so they already had a lot of learnings from
that and it allowed them to build a great product.
And what we know today is Alexa.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
You know, I want to follow up just a little
bit on this whole discussion on Amazon because I really
do think they do teamwork collaboration extraordinarily well when they
build stuff. How do you think about building teams and
getting people to collaborate.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
I have found it to be most successful when you've
shared goals number one, because you then understand the person
that's sitting on the other side of the table from
you and what their goals are and how they map
to your goals. You also do collective planning and understanding
(15:09):
having a view on the business of the dependencies you
have on each other. There's no one individual that can
make things happen. When we look at our business. If
my partner, who's bringing in the new podcaster, or we
will look at together what's the P and L of this,
How can we bring this talent to market? Who is
(15:31):
the audience for this talent. What is the other pillars
that we can launch from this? If it's live events,
then we have to go not just to the podcast
group or the distribution group, we also go to the
live events group, and you also go to the radio group.
Is their opportunity for someone to be on the air.
And so there's so many dependencies on each other. And
(15:52):
once you see that, you recognize that we all depend
on each other to get things done and no one
group can really function on their own. And so the
best way thing to show that to individuals is to
truly have shared goals and share your goals.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Well, it's interesting you are although you have a sales background,
I'm impressed with how much you understand about technology because
it drives so much of what you do, especially getting
us into the modern world of advertising. I want to
talk a little bit about tech driving advertising. You have
created something at iHeart called Audiograph. We talked about radio
(16:35):
while it's really enduring, Why do people think radio isn't
because for the most part, the advertising is bought and
sold the way it was twenty years ago. You're changing that.
So can you talk a little bit about Audiograph, how
you're using technology and what that means for the future
of advertising.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
So, first and foremost, how I like to tell the
story of Audiograph is of audio consumption, sixty four percent
is AMFM radio, but today only thirty percent of audio
is available to be transacted programmatically. What is available programmatically
(17:14):
or podcasts and streaming very important, very leaned in audiences.
There certainly that case, but right now there's seventy percent
of audio inventory that is not available to programmatic buyers,
upwards of ninety percent of all ad dollars of being
spent programmatically. That is where the huge opportunity is. When
(17:36):
I say that stat to clients, they cannot believe when
they realize that the fact that AMFM radio, what is
creating culture that we talked about earlier, right creating culture,
whether it be during a game, the morning after the
red carpet, what those radio hosts are talking about, is
not available to programmatic buyers. They realize the this opportunity
(18:01):
that we have and what Audiograph is. It brings broadcast
radio to parity with the industry. It makes broadcast radio addressable,
measurable and programmatically transactable. And this has really been somewhat
of a demand of the industry very much driven by measurement.
Advertisers and agencies want to understand and always be able
(18:23):
to measure the impact of what they purchased. By building Audiograph,
we're going to increase audio inventory in the programmatic ecosystem
by four hundred percent. And so what we're doing with
Audiograph is we're building out our identity through different signals
we have, whether it be iheartaff streaming, building out an
identity with TransUnion, and then being able to measure that
(18:47):
post impression. And so it really brings to light in
the industry that we can behave and act like digital.
And then the programmatic aspect of that is very important
because it's upwards of ninety percent of all AD dollars
of being spent programmatically. So Bob, that kind of maps
(19:09):
back to exactly or saying, if all of a sudden
you say, oh, by the way, seventy percent of audio
out there is not available programmatically, you say, well, gosh,
that's a bummer, because that is a huge amount of
inventory and opportunity that you want to buy into. And
then when you say and ninety percent of AD dollars
is spent programmatically, you say, wow, I'm missing, you know,
(19:30):
tremendous opportunity out there. You know, that's the story that
when we're out talking about it in the marketplace, really
starts to resonate with advertisers and overall. I mean, this
is the continued evolution of the industry. Right. Advertising is
certainly not sitting still, and this to me is the
next frontier of innovation. And it's actually why I joined iHeart.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Or a Mathemagic. Right after this quick break, welcome back
to math and Magic. Let's hear more from my conversation
with Lisa Coffee. Let's go back in time. Son, you
grew up in the nineteen seventies and eighties on Long Island.
What was that like? Paint the picture?
Speaker 2 (20:13):
It was very much you went out for the day
and you came home and your mom screamed out the
door to come home for dinner. I was always on
the go. I loved still love my friends, and loved
being out. I was always curious and adventurous. My parents
always had us out and about. We went skiing in
the winter. In the summer, we were out at the
(20:34):
beach out on the North Fork, and really enjoyed time
out doors. I never sat still and I think it's
really what built my curiosity, and it's my curiosity that
has served me well in my career as well. Is
never sitting back and being happy with what I've achieved.
My dad started at IBM in the sixties as a mechanic. Well,
(20:56):
he put himself through college at night. He got his
college degree, where he then ended up switching to finance
and rose through the ranks of finance at IBM. He
had a vision and he knew what he wanted to achieve,
and I think I learned quite a bit from that,
and yet my mom was actually the woman that drove
us all. From both of them, I really learned life skills.
(21:17):
Some of my favorite life skills. I like to talk
about our hustle. My mother always said, if you have
some hustle, you'll have an advantage over everybody else. And
with that, one of her other lessons in life was
always follow up and make that phone call and you
will get the job. Family and community were also a
big part of my growing up years and still are
a strong foundation has made me the confident and stable
(21:41):
person I am today, and I really focus on that
with my own family. My husband, he grew up on
a British Army camp in Germany, and so he had
a somewhat unstable childhood, I guess you could say, because
his parents were teachers on the army camp and so
students left every year, you know, they moved on to
(22:03):
different locations, so he doesn't have like a strong childhood
friend group. And when we met, I think one of
the very compelling things of our relationship was he really
liked this stability, and even with our as our kids
were born and we were growing up at certain points,
so like, hey, you want to move to Europe maybe,
and he was like, no, we need a really strong foundation,
(22:24):
and so you kind of take it for granted, and
it's almost not until you have kids do you see
the true benefits of that.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
How do you think about work life balance or maybe
work life integration.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Well, I chose a career that I love. I love
the advertising industry. I always knew I wanted to go
into advertising. I loved watching commercials from the time I
was young. And I think I'm fortunate in that sense
that I truly love what I do and it integrates
into my life. Well. As I said earlier, I'm an extrovert,
so I thoroughly enjoy sales. I enjoy the win in
(23:00):
of sales. I enjoy the sales process truly, from beginning
to end, prospecting to meeting a new client, to building
that relationship and getting to a place where you're helped
them drive success for their business. There's nothing more rewarding
than that. And so to me, that very much applies
to your personal life and how you want to show
up in your personal life and what you want to
(23:21):
bring your friends and family, want them to be successful
and be able to offer them different opportunities. It's funny,
I've really never had problem with work life balance, and
I think because I love my work so much. That said,
I've always had my priorities. You know, last year my
sons graduated high school. They were seniors, and I have
twin boys, and it was their senior year and they
(23:42):
played football and they played lacrosse and I did not
miss a single game. So I certainly have my priorities.
And you just have to know what's important to you
and where you want to be and where you want
to show up.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
I always told my kids, my work is like a
great video game. I can't wait to get by the
morning start playing it at the end of the day,
I don't want to put it away. I think that
probably helped them understand that I actually loved what I
did and that I enjoyed it.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
I love that analogy. That's absolutely true.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Let's jump a minute. AI friend or folk h friend,
and how do you think it's changing the media business?
We at High Heart, you know, were promising guaranteed human
Can you talk a little bit about that and why
and how we arrived at that, what we saw in
the marketplace and with our users.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
AI is truly one of the fastest growing technologies I've
ever seen, and the most I wouldn't say disruptive to
our industry, the fastest influence an impact I think on
(24:52):
the industry. It's incredible. It just makes you work faster
and harder. But you have to slow down for a
minute to learn how to do that. Right. We're working
through so many different aspects right now. How do we
create faster, better account plans, how to create faster better
emails to clients that are so customized to their business
that a seller almost doesn't have to think. They just
(25:14):
need to know what the prompt is that they need
to ask, and they'll pull the relevancy of their client
and their business, and yet you still need to understand
your client's business so you can guide that information correctly.
And so I love that we are committed to using
AI to make us better, faster, smarter. That is very
(25:36):
much how we are looking at it. And what I
love also about you know, you and iHeart holistically have
done with Guaranteed Human is making consumers see and understand
the value of the human voice, the guaranteed Human promise,
because we are at a point where consumers are becoming
(25:59):
really leery of of what AI is and what kind
of music are they listening to? Is is they really
even an artist? Who are they getting their news from?
People aren't trusting everything right, So while everybody's using AI,
the research shows that they still want their news from
a human and that's where iHeart comes in and with
(26:19):
our Guaranteed Human Promise, And that's a commitment to consumers,
and I think it's a really smart commitment and it's
resonating with people, not just the industry, but the world
at large. Consumers because they recognize where they can get
their news, who they can trust, the reliance on your
local market community and what your local radio station is saying,
(26:42):
especially to in times of crisis, which we've seen with
the fires in California, the core communicator to people that
were stuck. They couldn't get to their homes, they didn't
know what was happening, and so to be able to
contribute to community and society in that way is also
a unique and special place to be as a company
(27:03):
and a service to consumers at large. I mean, the
amplification of radio is unrivaled, and to be able to
have that guaranteed human promise behind it is really what
means a lot. It's not just the scale, but it's
the guaranteed human promise that really makes it rise to
(27:24):
the top here.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
You know, it's funny we sort of surprised people sometimes
when they talk about a broadcast radio and we say, well, actually,
do you know how we built ourselves to be the
number one podcast publisher, or how we've got the biggest
digital radio service, or how we do all these big
events we use broadcast radio. You just were involved in
one of the most exciting mashups and media TikTok and
(27:48):
Iheart's radio stations. We work together on the preview of
Bruno Mar's new music before he was released. I'm happy
to say this is his first ever album that debuted
at number one, so obviously it was a big success.
What does that say about radio?
Speaker 2 (28:05):
I love telling the TikTok story because TikTok came to us.
TikTok approached iHeart because TikTok wants number one. What is
the next phase? Right? They have all of these influencers
who are out trying to create moments, trying to create
cultural moments, be able to capture them, to amplify to
(28:27):
the world. That is the pure essence of social media
is to amplify this message and this moment in time
that's happening. Capturing these cultural moments, and for TikTok to
approach iHeart, it is the truest testament to how culturally relevant,
how real time live and in the moment radio is.
(28:49):
I mean, we are creating culture every second of the day,
literally twenty four to seven, and when you recognize how
much content is being created for radio, it's a huge
wow factor. And so TikTok coming to iHeart to find
an additional platform to theirs, to be able to have
(29:10):
their influencers on is just the biggest testament and the
truest testament to the scale and relevancy that iHeart and
broadcast Radio brings to the world. And with that, you know,
the overall partnership breaking records like to your point, Bruno Mahers.
A few weeks before that was Madison Beer, which we
also debuted with TikTok. The immediate feedback was, TikTok has
(29:34):
never seen numbers like that, tune in numbers like that.
So we're breaking records with the power of TikTok and
iHeart together but like two of the largest scaled platforms
you can combine. So that's really an exciting proof point
of what we've just done and another testament to We
will be bringing influencers onto the radio to have them
(29:57):
speak to the world, to amplify their voices over the
the airwaves, be partnering them with some of our very
experienced radio personalities, potentially creating the next round of broadcast
radio influencers. I think this is going to be one
of the greatest partnerships and media of all time podcasting.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
If Netflix is really sort of TV on demand, then
podcasting is most certainly radio on demand. How does podcasting
fit in the media landscape? It's the fastest growing new
media and by the way, it has more reach today
than the streaming music services. How does it help marketers
who use it?
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Marketers are using podcasts in different ways, and they're all
great and serve their brands in different ways. One, you
have brands like IBM who want thought leadership create a
podcast slate that brings relevancy, content and information to their
clients minim CEOs, CFOs, CTOs CIOs that they're providing them
(31:01):
value in the content they're bringing them, they're educating them.
And when you think about if I said to you, Bob,
what brand do you think would host a podcast? IBM
wouldn't be the first that comes to mind, right, But
there are many B to B podcast sponsors and they
do it really well and it serves such a great
purpose for their business and their brands. My original background
(31:22):
is in advertising is very much B to B, so
content for those brands is important, and yet it's not
the typical consumer that you think about. And then you
have brands that are excited to surround the hosts themselves,
whether it be anyone from Charlemagne who's on the radio
(31:42):
and now has a podcast. The versatility that we're seeing
from podcasts is also really interesting. Podcasters who are now
in the radio radio host too, now are podcasters. It
really has become this three sixty experience, and brands want
to be associated with strong names and strong leaders, and
(32:04):
tying themselves to that has been a huge benefit in
so many ways. Then there's the events that come out
of it. You know, you have podcasters that show up
at events, and it provides just another leg to the
stool of what a brand can surround.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Before we end, I want to do a little bit
of advice. If you could go back in time, what
advice would you give your twenty one year old self.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
My advice would be, always have strong mentors and always
have great bosses. Pick a job, taking your boss very
much into consideration of that job, and having mentors is
a huge benefit.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
We end every episode of Math and Magic with a
shout out to the greats of Math and Magic, the
people who really achieve success because they sort of see
the world through analytics, see it through data or it's
an analytical experience, and the others are sort of those
wild show piece all the people who just figure out
(33:02):
how to make it exciting and had the wild creativity.
Who would you give your shout out to for the
best math person and the best magic person?
Speaker 2 (33:12):
I think of two people who kind of got me
to where I am. One is Mike Schneider, who was
my boss at the Wall Street Journal, and funny enough,
I believe he's still the publisher of Fortune magazine that
has been for quite a few years. But he was
my mentor at one time. And when I called him
and told him when I was at LinkedIn that Amazon
(33:34):
had called me for a job and I said no,
I turned it down, he said, what are you crazy?
Except do you know how much data they have? This
is what makes me think about the math part. Right,
do you know how much data they have? This is
when Amazon Advertising didn't even exist at the time, And
so I gave my shout out to him for making
me realize the data and opportunity and the magic that
(33:57):
was there. And then that brings me to at Lisa Schneider,
who is our leader at Amazon at the time and
is now CEO of ias Integal ad Sciences. She was
a phenomenal leader. She has been my mentor throughout the years.
When I first got to loot me as a cro
it's owned by a PE company and I had to
(34:18):
present to PE and just different areas that I had
never played in. She really has been helpful in approaching
those things, and so that brings me back to like
really making sure that you have great mentors throughout your career.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
That's great, Lisa, It is great having you aboard the
iHeart Journey with us. You know, when new people come aboard,
you never quite know if you're going to like us,
or we're gonna like you, or if it's going to
fit or whatever. It's been an incredible fit. And you
had just jumped right in and become core to our company.
And we're lucky to have you and appreciate your time today,
(34:53):
and thanks for sharing your stories and insights.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Well, thank you both. That means the world to me.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
Here are a few things I picked up from my
conversation with Lisa. Challenges are not a negative. I've observed
how level headed Lisa is even in stressful situations. After
our conversation, understand that she isn't phased by tough decisions
because she genuinely sees them as an opportunity to solve
a problem. Two, take the time to earn trust. Walking
(35:21):
to iHeart. As the new chief business officer, Lisa News
should be working with company veterans and they should have
to gain their confidence. But she realized a long time
ago that communication around this is necessary and trust has
to be earned, not just between a company and its clients,
but among colleagues as well. Three. No one can do
it alone. As hard as anyone person works, a company
(35:44):
requires collaboration. Lisa takes the time to zoom out and
really look at the ways different teams and departments depend
on each other. By comparing goals and setting shared objectives,
everyone can help take the business farder. I'm Bob Pittman.
Thanks for listening.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
That's it for today's episode. Thanks so much for listening
to Math and Magic, a production of iHeart Podcasts. The
show is created and hosted by Bob Pittman. The Math
and Magic team is Ali Perry, Jessica Crinchich, and Dylan Hoyer.
Special thanks to Sidney Rosenbloom for booking and wrangling our
wonderful talent, which is no small feat. Until next time,
You're listening to Math and Magic, a production of iHeart podcasts.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
And I earned trustman earned the trust of my clients, right,
That's what I was there to do. What I learned
quickly is that earning trust component was about your colleagues,
so you can move business forward in unique ways and
being able to understand what somebody else wanted and what
were their goals for the year, and how you could
help them meet them while meeting your own, and so
(00:29):
how to partner with somebody to really meet the greater
good of the business. Hi.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
I am Bob Pittman, and welcome to this episode of
Math and Magic. Today, I've got someone's well unique soone
I work with one of my colleagues who has a
unique view of the future of advertising and the long
history and media. Lisa Coffee, Chief business Officer at iHeartMedia.
Lisa grew up in Long Island, New York, and she
has run the gamut imedius sales from traditional media newspapers
(01:02):
at USA Today, at Wall Street Journal magazines, at Time,
Inche and then she made the jump to what used
to be called new media at LinkedIn and then did
ten years in Amazon and a number of roles including
building the agency team that brought Amazon advertising to the
US marketplace, and finally she was at Loop Me as
Global cro She still lives on Long Island, loves voting,
(01:25):
She has fun and a brilliant colleague, Lisa. Welcome, Thanks
for having me. Bob, Well delighted to have you here.
Before we get started, I want to do you in
sixty seconds. Ready to go sounds great cats are dogs
dogs early riser or night out both.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
I burn it on both ends.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Protein or carbs, protein, sweet or savory sweet. TikTok Instagram or.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
X Instagram because of our partnership, probably converted to TikTok recently.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Great loyal introvert or extrovert, extrovert, beach mountains, beach cook
or read out cook call or.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Text should always call.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
It's about to get harder. All time favorite music artist.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Hobby bun Joby. I just have the honor of meeting
him first job on a farm stand.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Favorite all time movie Top Gun, Your go to radio station,
Z one hundred.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Favorite podcast A Certain Age by Katie Foverdy.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
The key to being class Mom, knowing all the kids,
smartest person you know my mom. Favorite ad campaign ever,
Fundweiser always crushes it with your Clydesdale's advice for your
kids before they go off to college, be personable, best
advice you ever got, always follow up And finally, favorite
(02:45):
place to visit.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
My parents beach cottage on the North Fork.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Ooh great, well let's jump in.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Now.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
You spend a lot of time in media that lost
a lot of its users magazine's newspapers, etc. Then you
want to meet that was growing like a weed LinkedIn, Amazon, etc.
Now you're at a company that has huge growth new
businesses like digital radio, music, podcasting of major events, but
also has radio, which has been around forever, but unlike
(03:14):
almost all other traditional media, radio is stronger than ever.
You and I both agree that we surprise people when
we tell them that actually we have more radio listeners
today that we did ten years ago, and even twenty
years ago, and nine and ten Americans listen to the
radio every month, and they listened to Iheart's broadcast radio
every month. It turns out, unlike TV that was just
(03:36):
a delivery system for programs that consumers liked, that they
really think about radio a different way. It's a companion.
Whereas the average person watches probably forty TV networks in
a month, they only listen to two or three radio stations.
So here's the question, how do you communicate that so
radio doesn't get lumped in with broadcast TV and traditional
(04:01):
media that's been declining. How do you explain the enduring
power of radio.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
I think what's resonating most when I'm talking to clients
or even friends is that radio personalities are the original influencers.
And that seems to really open people's eyes because all
of a sudden they say, Wow, you're right about that.
You know, when you listen to the radio show in
(04:28):
the morning, you realize that the radio hosts are actually
talking about exactly what happened the night before, either on
the field, on the red carpet, or in the news.
And this is what influencers are doing now. They're trying
to be in the moment. And that is exactly what
radio does, being in the moment, live and amplifying, and
(04:51):
it resonates with people in a unique way.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Yeah, we do keep people company. Sort of forget how
much we need that companionship exactly. Culture is so important.
We often talk about culture as the operating system for
a company USA Today Wall Street Journal, to timing, to LinkedIn,
and Amazon. What did you see in those cultures, the good,
(05:15):
the bad, And how do you think culture affects the
operations of any company.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Culture always starts with your people, and yet it starts
at the top, right, and what kind of culture you
want to create for the company. Someplace like Time Inc.
Was very much about the content and the variety of
content we had across magazines and the assets of each
of those, whether it be Sports Illustrated or whether it
(05:42):
be Fortune Magazine and the most Powerful Women's Summit or
Sports Illustrated and some of their spotlight issues. And the
culture was built very much around that content. It's what
you were selling. It was what you were representing those
personalities and repute patients. And then you know, you think
about a place like LinkedIn. It was very much about
(06:04):
linking in and community and how you connected with people
and how you leverage those connections within the platform, and
that came through in the culture there. When I went
to Amazon, it was all about the process. It was
almost very little about the people. It was how well
the people executed the process that Jeff Vezos had implemented
(06:26):
twenty five thirty years ago, which was making sure you
had mechanisms in place, processes, in place, dock writing is
a big part of the culture, and all of those
things that Amazon were what created the culture, and not
so much the people. Such three different cultures across those
(06:46):
companies and now at iHeart, it reminds me most of
that time at Time inc because it's very much about
all of the amazing assets that iHeart has that we
get to talk about on a daily basis, whether it
be a radio personality, a great podcaster, an incredible tent
(07:07):
pole event like jingle Ball. You see the excitement on
the employees, You see the excitement on meetings and client
calls about our overall assets, and it drives the culture
of community. It really shines through and that the employees
are so proud of that. It's just a really cool
thing to see on a daily basis.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
It's interesting somebody new comes into the mix. We have
a group of executives and suddenly there you are, as
are chief business officer. It's interesting you are sort of
a look at our whole group of folks. You are
extraordinarily level headed, even keel, thoughtful. Nothing seems to ruffle you.
Is that you or was that culture you developed from
(07:51):
these different companies thank you.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
You know it comes from my upbringing, my parents, my family,
having a strong foundation. I stay level headed because there's
nothing to kind of get flustered by. It's everything is digestible, solvable,
being solution oriented and making sure that you choose the
best path forward. And so I don't get flustered because
(08:15):
I see things as a challenge and a great opportunity.
I like using the words challenge and opportunity interchangeable because
challenge almost sounds negative. My god, here's a real challenge.
But I take challenges as opportunities because that's what they are.
If you face a challenge, it's an exciting time to
figure out are you going to choose this path or
that path, and assessing what the potential outcomes of each
(08:37):
one are. And so just being level headed is seeing
things as an opportunity to solve.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Loop Me was your last stop before iHeart. How did
it change your view of advertising?
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Lou Me was such an interesting place for me. I
learned so much at Amazon about ad tech, and loop
Me allowed me really to get much more closer and
under the hood around the supply and demand sides of
the business. It opened up my eyes to the advertising
industry and recognizing how interoperable the industry is, being able
(09:14):
to bolt on measurement or being able to move supply
into one system into another, how to increase demand against
certain supply. Probably my job where I had the biggest
learning curve because it was more of the guts of
the industry that I had never truly been exposed to,
and so it opened my eyes on the complexity of
(09:37):
the industry and yet the simplicity of the industry.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
You had some really interesting stops along the way. Huge brands,
I mean, Time Make may not seem as relevant today,
but at the moment you were there, it was one
of the biggest media companies in America with an enormous
footprint and impact. Same with Wall Street Journal USA Today, etc.
What lessons did you learn that you bring with you
today and this sort of have become a part of you.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
I think trust and transparency was one of the biggest
quarterstones of Time Inc. We worked a lot with the
editorial team, and I always respected how they really kept
the separation between church and state and how important that was.
That was a big learning or a great thing to
(10:26):
see because I knew at the time there were so
many other editorial properties out there that were really doing
things for the advertiser. And I loved that time. INC
really kept that separation between church and state. It allowed
me to learn how to uphold the standards of the industry.
And I would have to say, I think that's really
continued throughout my career and making sure that you don't
(10:48):
fold for the wrong reasons and you really want to
keep the authenticity and true brand integrate. I hang the
time at Amazon. You know, Amazon is a culture built
leadership principles, and the one that I just love was
earned trust. And it's funny because when I was when
I got there as a salesperson, I always saw earned
(11:10):
trusts meant earned the trust of my clients, right, That's
what I was there to do. I was there to
sell advertising, and I needed them to trust me so
I could bring them along for the ride. And what
I learned quickly, specifically at Amazon because of how big
it was and how many different parts of the business
they were, is that earning trust component was about your
colleagues and earning trust with other individuals so you can
(11:34):
move business forward in unique ways and being able to
understand what somebody else wanted and needed to achieve what
were their goals for the year, and how you could
help them meet them while meeting your own, and so
how to partner with somebody to really meet the greater
good of the business and earned trust is truly one
(11:55):
that I have applied everywhere in my career and it
really has become a guy principle in my life overall.
That's how I approach, you know, getting to iHeart and
really hard coming to iHeart when people have been here,
you know, fifteen years, it's like the average time ten
to fifteen years the people have been here and being new,
you quickly recognize that you have to earn trust of others,
(12:18):
have them understand what your goals are, what you're trying
to obtain for the greater good of the business, and
how you can help others meet their goals through achieving
different objectives that we set together. A great example I
have is just around when we launched the Amazon firephone,
which many may not remember because it did not succeed.
(12:39):
It was one of probably Amazon's biggest failures at the
time because we thought launching a phone would be easy
and it certainly wasn't. But that was truly a collective,
multi team effort from my business, you know, I called
on the telcos and how to get the telcos on
board with the potential advertising opportunities, to also working with
(13:04):
the telco team who had the partnerships with not just
the phone OEMs but also the telco companies, and how
we approached them to launch a net new product that
was potentially going to disrupt the industry. And there was
so many aspects of that that if we had not
worked together as a team, we would have been competing
(13:27):
against each other. And establishing that trust and understanding what
each of our goals and objectives were of those different
business units allowed us to be able to go to
market in a way that was a collective approach to
the industry and what we were trying to achieve. Now, granted,
like I said, it certainly wasn't a success, but it
(13:48):
was probably the most integrated way I had worked across
all of Amazon. And that's where really earning trust and
it was early on in my career at Amazon, and
that's where it really allowed me to understand what it
meant across the organization.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
You know, it's interesting our place, someone years ago added
something to our thought process, which was we don't win
or lose. We either win or we learned something. And
I suspect Amazon learned a lot from the firephone.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Oh yes, that phone actually was the basis of Alexa,
and so they already had a lot of learnings from
that and it allowed them to build a great product.
And what we know today is Alexa.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
You know, I want to follow up just a little
bit on this whole discussion on Amazon because I really
do think they do teamwork collaboration extraordinarily well when they
build stuff. How do you think about building teams and
getting people to collaborate.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
I have found it to be most successful when you've
shared goals number one, because you then understand the person
that's sitting on the other side of the table from
you and what their goals are and how they map
to your goals. You also do collective planning and understanding
(15:09):
having a view on the business of the dependencies you
have on each other. There's no one individual that can
make things happen. When we look at our business. If
my partner, who's bringing in the new podcaster, or we
will look at together what's the P and L of this,
How can we bring this talent to market? Who is
(15:31):
the audience for this talent. What is the other pillars
that we can launch from this? If it's live events,
then we have to go not just to the podcast
group or the distribution group, we also go to the
live events group, and you also go to the radio group.
Is their opportunity for someone to be on the air.
And so there's so many dependencies on each other. And
(15:52):
once you see that, you recognize that we all depend
on each other to get things done and no one
group can really function on their own. And so the
best way thing to show that to individuals is to
truly have shared goals and share your goals.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Well, it's interesting you are although you have a sales background,
I'm impressed with how much you understand about technology because
it drives so much of what you do, especially getting
us into the modern world of advertising. I want to
talk a little bit about tech driving advertising. You have
created something at iHeart called Audiograph. We talked about radio
(16:35):
while it's really enduring, Why do people think radio isn't
because for the most part, the advertising is bought and
sold the way it was twenty years ago. You're changing that.
So can you talk a little bit about Audiograph, how
you're using technology and what that means for the future
of advertising.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
So, first and foremost, how I like to tell the
story of Audiograph is of audio consumption, sixty four percent
is AMFM radio, but today only thirty percent of audio
is available to be transacted programmatically. What is available programmatically
(17:14):
or podcasts and streaming very important, very leaned in audiences.
There certainly that case, but right now there's seventy percent
of audio inventory that is not available to programmatic buyers,
upwards of ninety percent of all ad dollars of being
spent programmatically. That is where the huge opportunity is. When
(17:36):
I say that stat to clients, they cannot believe when
they realize that the fact that AMFM radio, what is
creating culture that we talked about earlier, right creating culture,
whether it be during a game, the morning after the
red carpet, what those radio hosts are talking about, is
not available to programmatic buyers. They realize the this opportunity
(18:01):
that we have and what Audiograph is. It brings broadcast
radio to parity with the industry. It makes broadcast radio addressable,
measurable and programmatically transactable. And this has really been somewhat
of a demand of the industry very much driven by measurement.
Advertisers and agencies want to understand and always be able
(18:23):
to measure the impact of what they purchased. By building Audiograph,
we're going to increase audio inventory in the programmatic ecosystem
by four hundred percent. And so what we're doing with
Audiograph is we're building out our identity through different signals
we have, whether it be iheartaff streaming, building out an
identity with TransUnion, and then being able to measure that
(18:47):
post impression. And so it really brings to light in
the industry that we can behave and act like digital.
And then the programmatic aspect of that is very important
because it's upwards of ninety percent of all AD dollars
of being spent programmatically. So Bob, that kind of maps
(19:09):
back to exactly or saying, if all of a sudden
you say, oh, by the way, seventy percent of audio
out there is not available programmatically, you say, well, gosh,
that's a bummer, because that is a huge amount of
inventory and opportunity that you want to buy into. And
then when you say and ninety percent of AD dollars
is spent programmatically, you say, wow, I'm missing, you know,
(19:30):
tremendous opportunity out there. You know, that's the story that
when we're out talking about it in the marketplace, really
starts to resonate with advertisers and overall. I mean, this
is the continued evolution of the industry. Right. Advertising is
certainly not sitting still, and this to me is the
next frontier of innovation. And it's actually why I joined iHeart.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Or a Mathemagic. Right after this quick break, welcome back
to math and Magic. Let's hear more from my conversation
with Lisa Coffee. Let's go back in time. Son, you
grew up in the nineteen seventies and eighties on Long Island.
What was that like? Paint the picture?
Speaker 2 (20:13):
It was very much you went out for the day
and you came home and your mom screamed out the
door to come home for dinner. I was always on
the go. I loved still love my friends, and loved
being out. I was always curious and adventurous. My parents
always had us out and about. We went skiing in
the winter. In the summer, we were out at the
(20:34):
beach out on the North Fork, and really enjoyed time
out doors. I never sat still and I think it's
really what built my curiosity, and it's my curiosity that
has served me well in my career as well. Is
never sitting back and being happy with what I've achieved.
My dad started at IBM in the sixties as a mechanic. Well,
(20:56):
he put himself through college at night. He got his
college degree, where he then ended up switching to finance
and rose through the ranks of finance at IBM. He
had a vision and he knew what he wanted to achieve,
and I think I learned quite a bit from that,
and yet my mom was actually the woman that drove
us all. From both of them, I really learned life skills.
(21:17):
Some of my favorite life skills. I like to talk
about our hustle. My mother always said, if you have
some hustle, you'll have an advantage over everybody else. And
with that, one of her other lessons in life was
always follow up and make that phone call and you
will get the job. Family and community were also a
big part of my growing up years and still are
a strong foundation has made me the confident and stable
(21:41):
person I am today, and I really focus on that
with my own family. My husband, he grew up on
a British Army camp in Germany, and so he had
a somewhat unstable childhood, I guess you could say, because
his parents were teachers on the army camp and so
students left every year, you know, they moved on to
(22:03):
different locations, so he doesn't have like a strong childhood
friend group. And when we met, I think one of
the very compelling things of our relationship was he really
liked this stability, and even with our as our kids
were born and we were growing up at certain points,
so like, hey, you want to move to Europe maybe,
and he was like, no, we need a really strong foundation,
(22:24):
and so you kind of take it for granted, and
it's almost not until you have kids do you see
the true benefits of that.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
How do you think about work life balance or maybe
work life integration.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Well, I chose a career that I love. I love
the advertising industry. I always knew I wanted to go
into advertising. I loved watching commercials from the time I
was young. And I think I'm fortunate in that sense
that I truly love what I do and it integrates
into my life. Well. As I said earlier, I'm an extrovert,
so I thoroughly enjoy sales. I enjoy the win in
(23:00):
of sales. I enjoy the sales process truly, from beginning
to end, prospecting to meeting a new client, to building
that relationship and getting to a place where you're helped
them drive success for their business. There's nothing more rewarding
than that. And so to me, that very much applies
to your personal life and how you want to show
up in your personal life and what you want to
(23:21):
bring your friends and family, want them to be successful
and be able to offer them different opportunities. It's funny,
I've really never had problem with work life balance, and
I think because I love my work so much. That said,
I've always had my priorities. You know, last year my
sons graduated high school. They were seniors, and I have
twin boys, and it was their senior year and they
(23:42):
played football and they played lacrosse and I did not
miss a single game. So I certainly have my priorities.
And you just have to know what's important to you
and where you want to be and where you want
to show up.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
I always told my kids, my work is like a
great video game. I can't wait to get by the
morning start playing it at the end of the day,
I don't want to put it away. I think that
probably helped them understand that I actually loved what I
did and that I enjoyed it.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
I love that analogy. That's absolutely true.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Let's jump a minute. AI friend or folk h friend,
and how do you think it's changing the media business?
We at High Heart, you know, were promising guaranteed human
Can you talk a little bit about that and why
and how we arrived at that, what we saw in
the marketplace and with our users.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
AI is truly one of the fastest growing technologies I've
ever seen, and the most I wouldn't say disruptive to
our industry, the fastest influence an impact I think on
(24:52):
the industry. It's incredible. It just makes you work faster
and harder. But you have to slow down for a
minute to learn how to do that. Right. We're working
through so many different aspects right now. How do we
create faster, better account plans, how to create faster better
emails to clients that are so customized to their business
that a seller almost doesn't have to think. They just
(25:14):
need to know what the prompt is that they need
to ask, and they'll pull the relevancy of their client
and their business, and yet you still need to understand
your client's business so you can guide that information correctly.
And so I love that we are committed to using
AI to make us better, faster, smarter. That is very
(25:36):
much how we are looking at it. And what I
love also about you know, you and iHeart holistically have
done with Guaranteed Human is making consumers see and understand
the value of the human voice, the guaranteed Human promise,
because we are at a point where consumers are becoming
(25:59):
really leery of of what AI is and what kind
of music are they listening to? Is is they really
even an artist? Who are they getting their news from?
People aren't trusting everything right, So while everybody's using AI,
the research shows that they still want their news from
a human and that's where iHeart comes in and with
(26:19):
our Guaranteed Human Promise, And that's a commitment to consumers,
and I think it's a really smart commitment and it's
resonating with people, not just the industry, but the world
at large. Consumers because they recognize where they can get
their news, who they can trust, the reliance on your
local market community and what your local radio station is saying,
(26:42):
especially to in times of crisis, which we've seen with
the fires in California, the core communicator to people that
were stuck. They couldn't get to their homes, they didn't
know what was happening, and so to be able to
contribute to community and society in that way is also
a unique and special place to be as a company
(27:03):
and a service to consumers at large. I mean, the
amplification of radio is unrivaled, and to be able to
have that guaranteed human promise behind it is really what
means a lot. It's not just the scale, but it's
the guaranteed human promise that really makes it rise to
(27:24):
the top here.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
You know, it's funny we sort of surprised people sometimes
when they talk about a broadcast radio and we say, well, actually,
do you know how we built ourselves to be the
number one podcast publisher, or how we've got the biggest
digital radio service, or how we do all these big
events we use broadcast radio. You just were involved in
one of the most exciting mashups and media TikTok and
(27:48):
Iheart's radio stations. We work together on the preview of
Bruno Mar's new music before he was released. I'm happy
to say this is his first ever album that debuted
at number one, so obviously it was a big success.
What does that say about radio?
Speaker 2 (28:05):
I love telling the TikTok story because TikTok came to us.
TikTok approached iHeart because TikTok wants number one. What is
the next phase? Right? They have all of these influencers
who are out trying to create moments, trying to create
cultural moments, be able to capture them, to amplify to
(28:27):
the world. That is the pure essence of social media
is to amplify this message and this moment in time
that's happening. Capturing these cultural moments, and for TikTok to
approach iHeart, it is the truest testament to how culturally relevant,
how real time live and in the moment radio is.
(28:49):
I mean, we are creating culture every second of the day,
literally twenty four to seven, and when you recognize how
much content is being created for radio, it's a huge
wow factor. And so TikTok coming to iHeart to find
an additional platform to theirs, to be able to have
(29:10):
their influencers on is just the biggest testament and the
truest testament to the scale and relevancy that iHeart and
broadcast Radio brings to the world. And with that, you know,
the overall partnership breaking records like to your point, Bruno Mahers.
A few weeks before that was Madison Beer, which we
also debuted with TikTok. The immediate feedback was, TikTok has
(29:34):
never seen numbers like that, tune in numbers like that.
So we're breaking records with the power of TikTok and
iHeart together but like two of the largest scaled platforms
you can combine. So that's really an exciting proof point
of what we've just done and another testament to We
will be bringing influencers onto the radio to have them
(29:57):
speak to the world, to amplify their voices over the
the airwaves, be partnering them with some of our very
experienced radio personalities, potentially creating the next round of broadcast
radio influencers. I think this is going to be one
of the greatest partnerships and media of all time podcasting.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
If Netflix is really sort of TV on demand, then
podcasting is most certainly radio on demand. How does podcasting
fit in the media landscape? It's the fastest growing new
media and by the way, it has more reach today
than the streaming music services. How does it help marketers
who use it?
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Marketers are using podcasts in different ways, and they're all
great and serve their brands in different ways. One, you
have brands like IBM who want thought leadership create a
podcast slate that brings relevancy, content and information to their
clients minim CEOs, CFOs, CTOs CIOs that they're providing them
(31:01):
value in the content they're bringing them, they're educating them.
And when you think about if I said to you, Bob,
what brand do you think would host a podcast? IBM
wouldn't be the first that comes to mind, right, But
there are many B to B podcast sponsors and they
do it really well and it serves such a great
purpose for their business and their brands. My original background
(31:22):
is in advertising is very much B to B, so
content for those brands is important, and yet it's not
the typical consumer that you think about. And then you
have brands that are excited to surround the hosts themselves,
whether it be anyone from Charlemagne who's on the radio
(31:42):
and now has a podcast. The versatility that we're seeing
from podcasts is also really interesting. Podcasters who are now
in the radio radio host too, now are podcasters. It
really has become this three sixty experience, and brands want
to be associated with strong names and strong leaders, and
(32:04):
tying themselves to that has been a huge benefit in
so many ways. Then there's the events that come out
of it. You know, you have podcasters that show up
at events, and it provides just another leg to the
stool of what a brand can surround.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Before we end, I want to do a little bit
of advice. If you could go back in time, what
advice would you give your twenty one year old self.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
My advice would be, always have strong mentors and always
have great bosses. Pick a job, taking your boss very
much into consideration of that job, and having mentors is
a huge benefit.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
We end every episode of Math and Magic with a
shout out to the greats of Math and Magic, the
people who really achieve success because they sort of see
the world through analytics, see it through data or it's
an analytical experience, and the others are sort of those
wild show piece all the people who just figure out
(33:02):
how to make it exciting and had the wild creativity.
Who would you give your shout out to for the
best math person and the best magic person?
Speaker 2 (33:12):
I think of two people who kind of got me
to where I am. One is Mike Schneider, who was
my boss at the Wall Street Journal, and funny enough,
I believe he's still the publisher of Fortune magazine that
has been for quite a few years. But he was
my mentor at one time. And when I called him
and told him when I was at LinkedIn that Amazon
(33:34):
had called me for a job and I said no,
I turned it down, he said, what are you crazy?
Except do you know how much data they have? This
is what makes me think about the math part. Right,
do you know how much data they have? This is
when Amazon Advertising didn't even exist at the time, And
so I gave my shout out to him for making
me realize the data and opportunity and the magic that
(33:57):
was there. And then that brings me to at Lisa Schneider,
who is our leader at Amazon at the time and
is now CEO of ias Integal ad Sciences. She was
a phenomenal leader. She has been my mentor throughout the years.
When I first got to loot me as a cro
it's owned by a PE company and I had to
(34:18):
present to PE and just different areas that I had
never played in. She really has been helpful in approaching
those things, and so that brings me back to like
really making sure that you have great mentors throughout your career.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
That's great, Lisa, It is great having you aboard the
iHeart Journey with us. You know, when new people come aboard,
you never quite know if you're going to like us,
or we're gonna like you, or if it's going to
fit or whatever. It's been an incredible fit. And you
had just jumped right in and become core to our company.
And we're lucky to have you and appreciate your time today,
(34:53):
and thanks for sharing your stories and insights.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Well, thank you both. That means the world to me.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
Here are a few things I picked up from my
conversation with Lisa. Challenges are not a negative. I've observed
how level headed Lisa is even in stressful situations. After
our conversation, understand that she isn't phased by tough decisions
because she genuinely sees them as an opportunity to solve
a problem. Two, take the time to earn trust. Walking
(35:21):
to iHeart. As the new chief business officer, Lisa News
should be working with company veterans and they should have
to gain their confidence. But she realized a long time
ago that communication around this is necessary and trust has
to be earned, not just between a company and its clients,
but among colleagues as well. Three. No one can do
it alone. As hard as anyone person works, a company
(35:44):
requires collaboration. Lisa takes the time to zoom out and
really look at the ways different teams and departments depend
on each other. By comparing goals and setting shared objectives,
everyone can help take the business farder. I'm Bob Pittman.
Thanks for listening.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
That's it for today's episode. Thanks so much for listening
to Math and Magic, a production of iHeart Podcasts. The
show is created and hosted by Bob Pittman. The Math
and Magic team is Ali Perry, Jessica Crinchich, and Dylan Hoyer.
Special thanks to Sidney Rosenbloom for booking and wrangling our
wonderful talent, which is no small feat. Until next time,
Host
Bob Pittman
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