Bauer Media sells Octave stake to News UK

Bauer Media has agreed to sell its stake in digital audio marketplace Octave to News UK.

This marks the end of a five-year joint venture between Bauer and News UK, giving the latter sole ownership of the ad proposition.

The transition will have no immediate impact on Octave clients, and both Bauer and News UK have stated they will reveal their respective plans “in due course”.

In a statement, Bauer Media Audio UK CEO Simon Myciunka called Octave a “great success for both Bauer Media and News UK”.

“Having achieved what we set out to do with Octave, we both now recognise the need to take ownership of our own digital audio advertising and so part ways with News UK and Octave later this year in good faith and with continued ambition to innovate and deliver opportunities for advertisers in the growing digital audio space,” he said.

News Broadcasting commercial director David Wilcox added that he is “extremely proud of what we have built with Octave”.

He continued: “My thanks go to the Bauer team for their collaboration over the last five years. Meanwhile, I’m incredibly excited to be able to fast-track the next chapter of Octave growth, delivering superb targeting and return on investment for our clients in the digital audio space — and beyond — across our scale brands.”

Sam Austin, head of audio at Stagwell agency Goodstuff Communications, told The Media Leader she believes the decision for News UK to buy out Bauer “will be beneficial for both parties”.

“It will help to streamline campaign planning and better enable cross-platform audio buying with both partners, while individually maintaining excellent first-party data solutions,” Austin explained. The move, she added, is likely to help “both Bauer and News to promote their separate strategies”.

News Broadcasting brands include talkSPORT, Times Radio and Virgin Radio. Bauer brands include Absolute Radio, Greatest Hits Radio and Kiss.