Dive Brief:

• iHeartMedia announced Tuesday the launch of its own branded content studio "iHeartMedia Soundboard." 
• The radio giant will offer brands access to custom marketing materials the blend with radio content —most likely in the form of interview segments, narrative pieces, and short audio teasers. 
• Many publishers, like Conde Nast and The New York Times, have built internal content studios for brands, but iHeartMedia will be the first major radio publisher. 

Dive Insight:

The trend of publishers building internal branded content studio continues, clearly something is working. On many levels, internal content studios are attractive to brands—it cuts out a middle man, streamlines the process, and better ensures that native ads are in tune with the tone of the publisher. It appears that agencies are having stiff competition publishers' content studios, so it will be interesting to see if branded content studios start to squeeze agencies out of the industry in the coming years.