Amazon Ads and Global, the UK media and entertainment group, announced on 23 April a programmatic integration connecting Amazon DSP directly with DAX, Global's digital audio exchange. 

Amazon DSP advertisers in the UK can now buy across Global's commercial audio brands, including Heart, Capital, Smooth, LBC, Classic FM, Radio X, Capital XTRA and Gold Radio, as well as the Global Player app and smart speakers including Alexa.

As Tom Streetley, Director of Commercial DAX Audio at Global, noted, "Global's radio brands are the most listened to on smart speakers." Combining that existing audience relationship with Amazon's shopping and browsing signals creates something advertisers have not been able to access through a single programmatic platform before.

What this integration actually covers

The partnership gives Amazon DSP access to Global's audio inventory across four environments simultaneously: live radio streamed online, the Global Player app on mobile, smart speaker listening via Alexa, and later in 2026, Global's podcast portfolio. That includes established titles such as The News Agents and My Therapist Ghosted Me, alongside new additions including Up to Speed, Global's new Formula 1 podcast.

The scale behind these numbers is significant. Global's radio brands accumulated more than one billion listening hours on Alexa alone in the UK in 2025. Across all platforms, Global reaches 51m people in the UK every week, with 29m listening to radio. 

DAX, Global's programmatic exchange, connects advertisers with more than 130m people worldwide. 

This is not a niche audio buy. It is broadcast-scale reach, now accessible programmatically through the same DSP infrastructure Amazon advertisers already use for display and video.

Phil Christer, Managing Director UK at Amazon Ads, described the partnership as combining Global's iconic audio brands with Amazon's first-party signals, AI-powered tools and measurement capabilities to create new ways for advertisers to connect with engaged audiences at scale. 

The emphasis on measurement is worth noting: accountability has historically been the weak point of audio advertising, and both Amazon and Global are positioning this integration explicitly as a solution to that.

What changes for advertisers

The practical shift is straightforward but significant. Premium UK audio inventory, previously requiring a separate negotiation with Global's sales team or a different trading relationship, is now accessible through Amazon DSP with the same planning and buying workflow used for other programmatic formats.

That means Amazon's first-party data, reflecting real purchase intent and shopping behaviour, can now be applied to audience targeting against Global's radio and podcast listeners. Campaigns can be planned, activated and measured across audio environments with the same attribution framework used for display and video, rather than relying on separate measurement methodologies that sit outside the main campaign reporting structure.

For brands that currently allocate audio budgets separately from digital budgets, this creates a more natural case for integrating them. When audio measurement sits alongside display and video measurement in the same platform, the conversation about budget allocation and channel contribution becomes considerably more straightforward.

The bigger picture for Amazon DSP

This announcement continues a clear pattern of Amazon DSP expanding its inventory beyond the properties Amazon owns directly. The integration with Global's DAX follows the partnerships with Netflix, Spotify, Samsung TV Plus, DAZN, Paramount+ and others already accessible through the DSP. Each addition extends the reach of Amazon's first-party data into a new premium media environment.

The audio picture, taken together, is now substantial. Amazon DSP already covered Amazon Music, Alexa-native audio, Wondery podcasts, Audible, Twitch and, following the October 2025 integration, Spotify's global audio and video inventory. The Global partnership adds the UK's largest commercial radio brands to that stack, filling a significant gap in broadcast-scale domestic audio reach.

The direction is consistent with what we discussed following the IAB UK Futurescape data earlier this year: Amazon is not expanding as a retailer adding advertising capabilities. It is building an omnichannel media platform where commerce data, audience intelligence and premium inventory operate as an integrated system. Audio is becoming a more connected, measurable, strategically accountable part of that system.

For brands building full-funnel strategies around retail data and real shopper behaviour, a premium audio channel that connects listener targeting to purchase measurement is a meaningful addition.

Want to understand how Amazon's audio advertising capabilities could work for your brand? Talk to the Vector Retail Media team.

"The audio picture, taken together, is now substantial. Amazon DSP already covered Amazon Music, Alexa-native audio, Wondery podcasts, Audible, Twitch and, following the October 2025 integration, Spotify's global audio and video inventory. The Global partnership adds the UK's largest commercial radio brands to that stack, filling a significant gap in broadcast-scale domestic audio reach."