Radio stations have long searched for creative ways to drive revenue and reward advertisers. One company believes it’s found a model that delivers for everyone involved. And it’s built around the one thing money can’t easily buy: access. iMAR Entertainment creates and offers premium experiences in entertainment, sports, and travel. Then it makes them available to radio stations through a barter-based model that turns unsold inventory into high-value marketing currency.
The company serves radio clients via both broadcasting and streaming. And its radio vertical has grown to include thousands of affiliates nationwide since launching in the U.S. roughly four years ago.
“We recruit experiences in entertainment, sports, and travel that companies around the world can use to power their marketing programs,” said iMAR Entertainment CEO Rami Eatessami. “Think promotions, think sales incentives, or employee incentives. The types of experiences we’re talking about are access to major events around the world: your big sports events, championship games, artist events, backstage opportunities, fashion weeks around the world, or great culinary experiences on all four corners of the globe.”
The pitch to radio is straightforward. Rather than purchasing experiences outright, stations provide iMAR with broadcast or streaming inventory — typically undervalued or unsold — which iMAR then packages and sells to advertisers. In return, stations earn iMAR credits they can redeem for experiences to use in on-air promotions, listener giveaways, or client incentive programs.
“All the station needs to do is continue focusing on what they do really well,” said Eatessami, “talking to their clients, bringing sponsors in, driving listenership, and turning these into promotions. And leave everything else to us.”
The Revenue Opportunity
The financial upside is where iMAR’s model gets particularly compelling for radio operators. Eatessami points to internal case studies showing ROI potential that can exceed ten times what a station might have otherwise earned by selling that same inventory through traditional channels.
“If they provide us with the inventory, they get a whole sales incentive program with multiple different tiers of experiences tied to incremental spend. And they can drive a 10 to 12x return compared to selling that inventory in network,” stated Eatessami. “The conversation becomes even simpler if you simply have unsold inventory on the books that’s already going unsold. Might as well turn that into serious revenue.”
That equation becomes even more compelling when streaming inventory enters the picture. iMAR expanded its model to include streaming impressions late last year, and the company believes the opportunity there is substantial. Roughly 30% of streaming audio impressions go unsold industrywide, according to company estimates — and many of those that do sell move through digital exchanges at CPMs below two dollars.
Furthermore, the white-glove execution is also a key part of the pitch. iMAR handles logistics, travel support, and on-the-ground coordination around the clock. That means stations don’t have to staff up to deliver a world-class experience. The days of worrying about something going wrong and it needing to be handled at the station level are gone.
“These are experiences that take place on any given day of the week,” the iMAR Entertainment CEO noted. “You’re going for a weekend to the other side of the world or the other side of the country. Gone are the days when there’s somebody to answer phones at a radio station on a Friday at 8 p.m. or a Saturday at 2 p.m. Flights still get canceled. Bags get lost. And I think that’s the part where radio stations really open their eyes and go, ‘Yeah, we need to think about this.’ Our team is so proactive. We’ve got a 24/7 travel support team that’s always on top of these situations as they occur. The station won’t even know about an issue by the time it’s been resolved. That’s a very big part of this.”
A Client’s Perspective
Steve Earnhart, iMAR Entertainment’s new Director of Partnerships, spent years on the radio side. He spent time working for several groups. Most recently, he served as an Area President for iHeartMedia, running 17 markets. And he experienced the model firsthand as a client before joining the company.
“Every radio group is strapped for cash. They don’t have the funds to send listeners on experiences,” said Earnhart. “After COVID, artists basically stopped touring. They’ll swing by radio stations, but everybody is remote. There’s nowhere for artists to even go anymore, so it gets tough.”
Earnhart used his iMAR credits to take dozens of his biggest advertising clients on a week-long trip to France. It combined the Cannes Film Festival and Formula 1’s Monaco Grand Prix. The trip featured:
- A branded boat cruise along the River Seine
- A private tour of the Louvre
- A Grand Prix viewing party above the famous hairpin bend in Monaco
- And an after-party on a yacht in the Monte Carlo harbor.
“This was the first time that every single client I invited RSVPed for themselves and their plus one,” Earnhart said. “They didn’t send an underling or a manager. They all wanted to go on this trip, because when did they ever get invited to do something like that?”
He also credited iMAR’s concierge-level handling for making the program work from a client relationship standpoint. If something goes wrong on a trip, it reflects on the station — not the experience provider. With iMAR managing every detail, that risk largely disappears.
“If I send a client somewhere and iMAR can take care of them through the entire process, they only get five-star reviews. Because it’s a reflection of me,” said Earnhart.
Beyond client entertainment, some stations have also used their iMAR credits for internal purposes. Some companies have rewarded top sellers with annual trips that have become highly anticipated cultural events. It’s a creative solution to a real challenge: finding ways to invest in and motivate talent when budgets are tight.
The model also scales better than many stations might expect. While iMAR initially anticipated its strongest penetration in the top 20 to 40 markets, Eatessami says the streaming component has leveled the playing field considerably. A million impressions carries the same value regardless of market size. As a result, many smaller markets are generating significant out-of-market digital audiences. Those don’t help their Nielsen numbers, but could be helping their bottom line. That is where iMAR Entertainment helps benefit radio customers.
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Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing daily news stories, features, and opinion columns. He joined Barrett Media in 2022 after a decade leading several radio brands in several formats, as well as a 5-year stint working in local television. In addition to his work with Barrett Media, he is a radio and TV play-by-play broadcaster. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
