Reviewed by Peter Berk, President and Chief Media Strategist, Berk Marketing · Last reviewed 17 August 2026
iHeartRadio Advertising
One order can put you on hundreds of local stations, digital-only channels and a streaming app. That is the appeal, and it is also where weak inventory hides inside a strong package. We buy iHeartRadio for advertisers, and we price every piece of the bundle separately.
No cost, no obligation. Or call (866) 747-4707 and speak with Peter Berk or one of his Berk-trained partners.
iHeartRadio advertising is paid placement across the iHeartRadio platform and the local radio stations behind it. The platform lets listeners build custom stations around their own tastes, as Pandora does, and gives them access to more than 800 local radio stations, exclusive digital-only stations, celebrity-hosted channels, local traffic reports and exclusive videos. Advertisers reach that audience on mobile and desktop with audio ads, banner ads and more, and can also buy commercial time on the stations’ broadcast signals.
Because so much inventory sits under one roof, iHeartRadio is usually sold as a package rather than as single spots: several stations, often several markets, sometimes streaming and display folded in. One order, one invoice, one point of contact. That is a real advantage when you are buying twelve markets at once, and it is also why a package has to be taken apart before it is signed. In any bundle some stations do the work and some ride along, and the buyer’s job is to make sure the first group is not paying for the second.
The problem
Nothing here is a scandal. It is simply how group inventory is sold, and none of it works against you once you can see inside the line item.
Already holding an iHeartRadio proposal? Send it over. We score it against our ten-point standard and tell you which parts are worth the money, whether or not you buy through us.
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A proposal is rarely one product. It is several stapled together, each with its own value and its own failure mode. Here is what to check before you approve the total.
| Piece of the buy | What you are actually buying | What to check before signing |
|---|---|---|
| Local broadcast spots | Commercial time on one station’s over-the-air signal in one market, sold by daypart. | Which stations, which dayparts, how many spots on each. A station named without a spot count is not a commitment. |
| Multi-market package | The same campaign placed across stations in several markets on one order. | A per-market price. If it cannot be broken out market by market, you cannot cut the market that fails. |
| Streaming audio | Audio ads inside the app and site on mobile and desktop, including listener-built custom stations. | Impression counts stated separately from broadcast spots, not merged into one blended cost. |
| Banner and display | Visual ad units alongside the audio on mobile and desktop. | Whether it is a real part of the plan or a throw-in padding the value of the package. |
| Digital-only stations | Channels that exist only on the platform, with no broadcast signal behind them. | A streaming product. Judge it on impressions, not on the reputation of the broadcast brand. |
| Celebrity-hosted channels | Curated channels built around a named host or personality. | Whether you are buying a spot inside the channel or a host endorsement. Those cost very different money. |
| Traffic and local features | Sponsorship attached to local traffic reports and similar recurring features. | A fixed placement at a fixed time. A feature sponsorship sold as a rotator is just a rotator. |
Every one of these can be a good buy. The question is never whether a piece is good, it is whether it is good at the price it is carrying inside your total.
Ways to buy
One station, one city, bought on its own merits. The cleanest structure there is. If one station is all your budget supports, insist on it and refuse the bundle.
Several stations in one city sold together. Useful when the formats genuinely reach different people. Wasteful when the second and third exist to make the number look bigger.
One order covering many cities at once: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Dallas, Miami. This is where the scale pays off.
Audio ads inside the app and site on mobile and desktop, reaching listeners on custom and digital-only stations. Bought on impressions, and runnable without broadcast spots.
Visual units alongside the audio. Worth real money when your offer needs a click. Worth close to nothing when added quietly to justify the price of the audio.
Unsold inventory picked up at short notice for less. Suits a flexible calendar and a broad audience. See remnant radio advertising.
Costs
There is no rate card to publish, because there is no single iHeartRadio price. The same schedule costs very different money depending on the market, the month and how much flexibility you give up. These are the levers.
The biggest cost lever is not the negotiation. It is refusing to pay a strong-station rate for weak-station inventory, and that decision is made before anyone talks price. More at radio advertising costs.
Send your market list, your budget and what a customer is worth. We come back with a plan priced station by station, so you can see what each piece is carrying.
Request a Free Media PlanIs it right for you?
If you sit closer to the right-hand column, we say so on the first call rather than after the invoice. Start with is radio right for my business if you are unsure.
Comparison
| iHeartRadio network buy | Individual local stations | Streaming audio platforms | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you buy | A package of stations, often across markets, sometimes with streaming and display included. | Commercial time on one station at a time. | Audio impressions served on mobile and desktop. |
| Who you deal with | One point of contact for the whole schedule. | A separate seller and order for every station. | A platform or its ad system, with little station-level conversation. |
| Scale per order | Highest. This is why the structure exists. | Lowest. Every added market is another negotiation. | High, but measured in impressions rather than markets. |
| Pricing visibility | Poor unless you demand a breakdown. One number can cover eight products. | Strong. You see exactly what each station charges. | Clear on cost per impression, quieter on where it ran. |
| Dropping what fails | Hard inside a bundle. Easy once priced per station and per market. | Easy. Cancel one station, leave the rest alone. | Easy. Adjust or stop delivery without renegotiating. |
| Targeting | Format, market and daypart. | Format, market and daypart, with more local nuance. | Platform data on the listener, not the station. |
| Reading results | Call volume and offer response against the schedule. | Cleanest of the three: one station is one variable. | Impressions and clicks, reported more granularly. |
| Best for | Multi-market advertisers who want reach and one administrative thread. | Single-market advertisers, and anyone testing a message before expanding. | Advertisers wanting app and desktop reach without broadcast time. |
| Main risk | Strong stations subsidising weak ones inside a single price. | Slow to scale. The workload grows with every market. | Audio that is easy to skip and easy to under-weight. |
These are three shapes of the same medium rather than rivals, and most campaigns we build use two of them. See also local radio advertising and internet radio advertising.
Why Berk Marketing
Berk Marketing has been an independent media buying agency since 1999. We hold no inventory, own no stations and carry no quota to fill. Nothing we recommend has to be sold.
Peter Berk has been in radio since 1979 and spent roughly twenty years on the station side: KCHS-AM in New Mexico, KKAL in California, KABC and KMPC in Los Angeles, and general sales manager at 91X in San Diego. He knows how packages are built because he used to build them.
We run every plan against a ten-point standard, including plans we did not write. If a competitor’s proposal scores better than ours, you will hear that from us.
Certified Radio Marketing Consultant, certificate no. 589, issued by the Radio Advertising Bureau on December 2, 1980.
Compensation is the standard media commission built into the buy, split with Hybrid Media Services on most campaigns. No separate retainer, and no incentive attached to any one station or platform.
Big Lou Insurance has run national radio and SiriusXM with us since 2011, selling term life to people aged 50 to 60 with health issues. Long campaigns are the only real proof in this business.
How we work
What you sell, where you can serve, what a customer is worth and what you have already tried. If iHeartRadio is not the right vehicle, this is where we say so. The call costs nothing.
We build the schedule and break it out: which stations, which markets, which dayparts, how many spots, and what streaming and display cost on their own. Every line justifies itself.
Commercial writing and production are done in house, including scripting, voiceover and editing. The message and the media plan are built by the same people, which is how they point the same way.
We monitor how the schedule runs and what it returns, then cut the stations not earning their place and move that weight to the ones that are. A campaign is a working document, not a signed order.
FAQs
Paid audio and display placement across the iHeartRadio platform and the local stations behind it. The platform lets listeners build custom stations around their own tastes and gives them access to more than 800 local radio stations, digital-only stations, celebrity-hosted channels, traffic reports and exclusive videos. Advertisers reach that audience on mobile and desktop with audio ads, banner ads and more, and can also buy time on the broadcast signals.
The platform delivers access to over 800 local radio stations, plus exclusive digital-only stations and celebrity-hosted channels. That is the size of the pool, not the size of your buy. A useful schedule uses a small, deliberately chosen slice of it, properly weighted.
Yes. Audio and banner ads on mobile and desktop can be bought on their own. That often suits advertisers who want app and desktop reach without paying for over-the-air time, or who want to test creative first.
There is no single answer and we will not invent one. The rate moves with the market, the daypart, the season, the length of commitment and how much scheduling flexibility you give up. Send your markets and budget and we come back with real numbers rather than a meaningless range.
It depends on how many markets you need. For one city, buy the station directly. For eight cities, a package gives you scale and one point of contact, worth real money in saved time. It stops being a bargain the moment it stops being itemised.
Insist on a breakdown before you sign: price per station, per market and per product, with streaming impressions stated separately from broadcast spots. Then keep the right to drop individual stations at renewal instead of taking or leaving the bundle whole. If a seller will not itemise, that is your answer.
No. Berk Marketing is an independent media buying agency. We represent advertisers, not media companies, and we hold no inventory. We buy iHeartRadio when it is the right vehicle and recommend something else when it is not.
Yes. Commercial writing and production are done in house, covering scripting, voiceover and editing. We also buy Pandora, SiriusXM and terrestrial stations across the country, so the same spot can run wherever it makes sense. See SiriusXM radio advertising.
Send it. We review proposals free and with no obligation, score them against our ten-point standard, and say plainly which parts are worth the money and which are padding. You are free to take that advice and buy through the original seller. Start at our free proposal review.
Keep reading
Priced station by station and market by market, with streaming and display broken out. If the package does not hold up, we tell you that instead of selling it to you.
Or call (866) 747-4707. No obligation, and no pressure to buy through us.
Tell us who you want to reach and what you want to accomplish. No obligation, and nothing is placed until you approve it.
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Berk Marketing represents advertisers, not radio stations or media companies.
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