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Canadian broadcaster Pattison Media has launched “resonate,” a programmatic advertising platform that enables agencies and advertisers to buy over-the-air radio inventory using the same workflows and platforms commonly used for digital, connected TV and out-of-home advertising. The company says the platform is intended to bring broadcast radio into the wider programmatic advertising ecosystem.
Pattison Media announced the platform during the 2026 Radio Days North America conference, where it demonstrated what it described as the first confirmed instance of a radio advertisement purchased programmatically and delivered directly over broadcast radio through a major demand-side platform. The company positioned the launch as a significant operational shift for radio advertising workflows.
Andrew Snook, chief innovation officer at Pattison Media, described broadcast radio as one of the few major advertising channels still operating largely outside programmatic buying systems. He argued advertisers increasingly expect radio transactions to mirror the workflows already used across digital media. “For years, we’ve watched programmatic buying transform one channel after another, but broadcast radio was left outside that system,” said Snook. “resonate changes that. It gives advertisers a way to access the scale and impact of radio using the same tools, metrics, and buying models they already use every day.”
This is about making radio easier to access, not changing what radio is
Rod Schween, president of Pattison Media
Modernizing radio advertising workflows
Pattison Media added that developing resonate was partly inspired by the evolution of the out-of-home advertising sector, where impression-based buying, CPM pricing and programmatic access have increasingly replaced fixed scheduling models. The company said it saw parallels between those changes and the operational challenges facing radio advertising.
According to Pattison Media, resonate allows advertisers to plan and purchase radio inventory programmatically using impression-based buying models, while also supporting the dynamic placement of advertisements within upcoming commercial logs. The platform also includes real-time audience and impression modeling that reflects live listening conditions.
The company said the platform can integrate with buying systems, including Google DV360, which reduces the need for manual planning and direct negotiation traditionally associated with radio advertising. Pattison Media added that the approach is intended to reduce operational barriers for agencies working under tighter timelines and margins.
Rod Schween, president of Pattison Media, framed the platform as a modernization of radio advertising workflows rather than a change to radio broadcasting itself. He said the company’s goal was to align radio buying with the way agencies increasingly transact across other media channels. “This is about making radio easier to access, not changing what radio is,” said Schween. “Radio already delivers trust, reach and impact — resonate allows it to be bought in a way that matches how advertising actually works today.”
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