Australian radio broadcasters are working with major media agencies on the development of a world-leading virtual workspace that will be a key component of the industry-wide ad buying platform, RadioMATRIX.

Nineteen agencies will participate in the pilot program, which provides them with a single interface to connect with 370 radio stations and collaborate on media campaigns in real-time, from any location.

“We are excited to start work with agencies on the next phase of RadioMATRIX, which will transform the audio buying process and make it much easier for advertisers to invest in radio and podcast advertising,” Commercial Radio Australia chief executive officer Joan Warner said.

The agencies participating in the initiative are Carat, Dentsu, Havas Media, Ikon Communications, Initiative, MagnaGlobal, Mediacom, Mindshare, OMD, Orion, PHD, Rufus, Spark Foundry, Starcom, The Media Store, UM, Wavemaker and Zenith.

Media buyers will have access to purpose-built tools to create and send out briefs, receive proposals from networks and undertake modelling.  The cloud-based solution will be powered by GfK radio surveys data so agencies can check audience reach, frequency and cost against real-time availability.

The first phase of RadioMATRIX was launched in October 2017 and digitised and streamlined the management of ad bookings.  The platform is currently being used by 200 media agencies and has processed more than 1.5 billion items of radio inventory.  

RadioMATRIX is being developed by AudioNET, with the virtual workspace, briefings and proposals module scheduled for completion in October.