"The radio industry in South Africa is evolving rapidly and we are evolving with it," says John Walls, managing director at Ultimate Media.

Ultimate Media says that radio listening is thriving, according to the latest audience data. Add to that the rapid growth of digital audio, and it's clear that this medium has massive potential to grow its share of the ad spend pie. To compete with digital display and TV, radio needs to become cost-competitive and easy to buy. Advertisers are looking for a station-agnostic one-stop shop that can deliver cost competitiveness and simplicity.

Sa'adah Tavira joins as the agency client lead for Johannesburg. Tavira is hugely experienced, having spent many successful years at Primedia and is well-known in the industry. She is perfectly poised to excel at Ultimate Media, says the company.

While the majority of Ultimate Media's business is agency-led, the launch of their aggregated audience radio packages has prompted them to appoint a direct client lead. This role will be filled by Tshepang Louw. According to the company, Louw has had great success in the sales industry and comes with an excellent reputation and a strong track record.

Aggregated audience radio packages are a new offering from Ultimate Media, which saw a gap in the market for one agency to package radio audiences across multiple stations at an affordable CPT (cost per thousand) price.

The ultimate aim is to make radio more competitive and attractive to heavy TV and digital advertisers and increase radio's share of the ad spend pie.

A further development sees Lerato Letsoalo take over as managing director of Barati Media, the government business arm of Ultimate Media. Letsoalo is part owner of this growing agency and will now be fully focussed on the public sector radio and audio advertising business.

Letsoalo says, "We've managed to grow this business to a level that now requires my full attention. I am ready to take the business to even greater heights with the solid relationships we've built with various government entities and our track record of consistently successful campaigns."

The Barati Media entity was brought about by the discernible need for the public sector to communicate to the public with more efficiency and reach. Radio was the obvious choice, with over 80% of the population listening, in their own language, at any time of the day.

New appointments, new products and new revenue streams make this a very exciting period for Ultimate Media as the country's leading independent radio specialist aggregator of all things radio and audio.

For more information, visit www.ultimatemedia.co.za. You can also follow Ultimate Media on Facebook, X or on Instagram.