GBS Criticizes iHeart Over Geotargeting

IHeart Media allows its advertisers to target specific markets while advocating against the smaller scale geotargeting technology proposal from GeoBroadcast Solutions (see 2112030052), GBS said in a letter to the FCC posted Thursday in docket 20-401. “The FCC should enable all broadcasters -- not just those with a huge number of radio stations -- to offer geo-targeted content to advertisers and also to their audiences.” IHeart declined to comment. Advertisers on iHeart stations are offered a service called iHeart AdBuilder, allowing them to choose from iHeart's many markets specific cities where their ads will be aired, GBS said. That’s different from the GBS proposal, which would use FM boosters to broadcast specific ads to specific portions of a station’s market, it wrote. “The same economic benefits that iHeart may gain by geo-targeting content apply just the same to a smaller broadcaster’s targeting of content to a zone within their market.”