Digital Audio AdTech Leader AMA Names Paul Kelly as New CEO

AMA, the leader in dynamic creative for audio, today announced the appointment of Paul “PK” Kelly as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Kelly, who has served as the company’s Global Chief Revenue Officer for the past four years, steps into the CEO role as AMA experiences record growth.

“I’m thrilled to lead AMA during such a transformative period for digital audio advertising,” said Kelly. “With the rapid growth in digital audio consumption—driven by milestones like the so-called 'podcast election’—we have an incredible opportunity to innovate and deliver highly personalized ad experiences that resonate with listeners worldwide. It’s an exciting time for both the industry and AMA.”

According to EMARKETER, U.S. adult podcast listeners are expected to spend an average of 50 minutes per day on programming in 2024. Additionally, Statista projects that the number of global music streaming service users will exceed 1.1 billion by 2027. Advertisers are keeping pace with this audience growth, with global digital audio ad spend expected to reach $11.3 billion by the end of this year.

Kelly added: “This growth highlights the increasing impact of digital audio platforms and their ad-supported services, showcasing a major shift in how brands engage with consumers through audio channels.”

Amid this industry expansion, AMA has benefitted, achieving record growth over the past year.

• Record Revenue Growth: The company experienced a 60% year-over-year revenue increase from 2023, which was previously the highest revenue year. Relatedly, AMA has achieved three consecutive record-breaking quarters in terms of revenue.
• Programmatic Expansion: AMA is now successfully serving dynamic creative content across podcast inventory programmatically, enhancing reach and engagement for clients and partners.
• Innovative AI and ML Tools: The company launched Studio.AI, an AI-powered suite of features that accelerates the AMA dynamic decisioning engine. This solution intelligently syncs audio files with script lines and selects relevant data triggers for highly personalized ad experiences. Studio.AI is available across leading audio platforms such as Spotify, Pandora, Acast, and iHeart, with users including Walmart, Target, Google, and Booking.com.
• Enhanced Data Management: Just this month, AMA introduced a key update to its API integration tool, streamlining first-party data management for brands. The update features seamless Google Sheets integration, allowing for efficient handling of large static and live data sets.

Kelly is a seasoned media sales executive with extensive experience in major advertising businesses and digital platforms. His career includes leadership roles at Sony, Viacom, and Discovery, where he consistently drove revenue growth and pioneered innovative advertising and partnership strategies. Since joining AMA as Global Chief Revenue Officer in 2021, Kelly has applied his expertise in B2B marketing, sales enablement, and management to achieve significant global growth, cementing AMA’s position as a leader in audio adtech and media innovation.

Kelly succeeds Steve Dunlop, who founded and led AMA for nine years. In addition to Kelly’s appointment, current CFO Joanne Grindrod will also take on the role of COO.

“After thoughtful consideration, Steve has decided to step down as CEO and from the Board of AMA, a company he founded and led for nine years,” said AMA Board Chairman, Kip Meek. “This is a decision he has been contemplating for some time, and while his deep commitment to the business kept him in his role, he now feels confident that, with the current strong performance and the stability of the leadership team, it’s the right moment to move on. Steve remains immensely proud of what AMA has achieved and is grateful for the dedication and hard work of everyone involved. Although he won’t be involved as an employee, he remains available to support the company in an advisory capacity as needed. I’d like to thank Steve for founding AMA and for leading it since inception.”

“As AMA continues to grow and innovate within the dynamic audio advertising landscape, Paul’s leadership and vision will guide the company’s next chapter,” added Meek. “Building on the strong foundation, AMA is poised to expand its impact and deliver even greater value to its clients and partners.”

To learn more about AMA, its cutting-edge technology, and how it enables data-driven, dynamic ad experiences, visit amillionads.com.

About AMA

AMA is the leader in Dynamic Creative for audio. We deliver customized, data-driven, dynamic ads on the world’s largest audio platforms.

By using any combination of contextual and audience-level data, we can dynamically serve the most relevant and actionable ad to each listener. With over 10 billion ad impressions served to date, our platform automates the delivery of ‘platform-intelligent’ ads across all audio formats, including streaming, podcast, and broadcast radio.