Apple meeting with UK ad agencies in preparation for iTunes Radio rollout

Apple appears to be readying for an UK iTunes Radio launch in the near future. As indicated by this tweet, Apple’s director of iAd Paul Wright has recently been visiting media marketing agencies to discuss iAd in relation to iTunes Radio.

Bloomberg said that Apple was planning to launch in the UK in ‘early 2014’ last October, but so far this has not happened several months into 2014. Although many people have seen iTunes Radio sporadically appear on their devices in recent months, it is has only officially expanded to Australia beyond the US launch alongside iOS 7.

Paul Wright is currently a lead iAd director for Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Being based in London, it makes sense that he would be leading discussions about iTunes Radio advertising for the UK region. Wright also used to be OMD’s chief digital officer so it is likely that he would leverage these relationships in his role at Apple.

OMD are already known to be linked closely to Apple’s advertising teams, having previously been in talks with the company to negotiate advertising campaigns for iTunes Radio’s launch. We asked OMD on the matter, but the company has not been available for comment.

On Friday, it was reported that Apple was blocking a UK-based iTunes Radio competitor from the iAd network, giving even more credence to an imminent launch in the region.

The expansion of iTunes Radio comes as Apple reportedly faces pressure to overhaul its iTunes offerings, after music labels were underwhelmed by iTunes Radio’s performance. 9to5Mac has previously reported that Apple is considering promoting its iTunes Radio app to a dedicated app in iOS 8.