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Online services marketplace Airtasker (ASX: ART) has secured two key media partnerships totalling $14.4 million with America’s biggest audio company iHeartMedia (NASDAQ: IHRT) and the world’s leading Spanish-language content and media company TelevisaUnivision.
The media-for-equity deals are said to have the capacity to “turbocharge” the company’s brand awareness in the US, a market that remains in its infancy for the group.
The media partnerships build on similar arrangements secured by AirTasker with Channel 4 in the UK, and oOh!media (ASX: OML) and ARN Media (ASX: A1N) in Australia.
Airtasker says the two US deals will give the group access to 276 million monthly iHeart audio listeners and 100 million daily TelevisaUnivision linear TV, digital and audio users which will deliver a significant boost to its brand awareness in the US.
In exchange for a 17.1 per cent stake in Airtasker USA, TelevisaUnivision will provide Airtasker with US$4.75 million ($7 million) in advertising over two years across its platforms which cover 38 cable networks and 35 radio stations in major US Hispanic markets.
Rodrigo Lascurain, investment principal at TelevisaUnivision, sees the partnership providing critical support for Airtasker’s US expansion plans.
“By leveraging our diverse media assets, we will help Airtasker connect with the US Hispanic community, the nation’s fastest-growing demographic,” says Lascurain.
Meanwhile, the iHeart partnership will provide Airtasker with US$5 million ($7.4 million) in advertising inventory over two years in exchange for a four-year convertible note with a 5 per cent coupon. The agreement allows iHeart to either cash in or convert the note into a stake in Airtasker USA at a 20 per cent discount to an agreed valuation.
The iHeart network has a reach of 860 broadcast and streaming stations in 160 US cities, a reach that comprises nine out of 10 Americans.
The iHeart deal also provides Airtasker with potential to promote its business to major pop culture events such as the iHeartRadio Music Awards and iHeartRadio Music Festival.
“We are super pumped to be building on the momentum of our global media partnership strategy by joining forces with two of America’s leading media companies - iHeart and TelevisaUnivision - to scale Airtasker in the USA,” says Airtasker CEO and co-founder Tim Fung.
“Our partnership with TelevisaUnivision provides unmatched access to the US Hispanic market, which represents a huge proportion of the largest US cities, including 48 per cent of Los Angeles, via a powerful combination of television, streaming and digital assets that reach over 100 million daily users.
“Together with TelevisaUnivision, our partnership with iHeart delivers access to over 276 million Americans via broadcast radio, digital audio streaming and by far the biggest podcast network in the US. We can’t wait to get moving.”
Today’s announcement follows a solid earnings result by Airtasker for FY24 during which the company delivered full-year positive free cash flow of $1.2 million.
The result led to a 97.8 per cent improvement in EBITDA for the year to a loss of just $200,000, which was down from an $8 million loss a year earlier, as revenue lifted 5.6 per cent to $46.6 million.
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