Monday, April 30, 2007
Advertisers Ready To Target Internet Radio
byAs you’re listening to Internet radio, would you rather have to pay for a subscription or listen to an ad? As reported in today’s New York Times, CBS Radio and TargetSpot are betting that you’ll be open to them serving you up virtual ads. And they’ll generate ad revenues as a result.
Start-up TargetSpot, financed in part by CBS Radio, will launch in June a new service allowing advertisers of any size, local or national, to create ads on the fly and serve them up in online radio programming in a matter of minutes.
Advertisers will be able to target commercials to specific audiences based on demographics or geographic data such as zip codes.
Automated production at TargetSpot simplifies the creation of ads. Spots can be recorded by microphone, telephone, or by using pre-recorded audio, computer-generated speech or voice professionals.
The article cites an example of a café manager located near Times Square realizing at 11 a.m. that he still has open tables for lunch. The manager could go online, create an ad, target people in his zip code and advertise for lunch openings via online radio.
TargeSpot is not alone. The article reviews other efforts to sell and automate ads in traditional radio by Google Audio and Clear Channel, as well as SWMX Software Media Exchange.
The Times article says this is another example of how the radio industry is seeking new ways to drive revenue growth and making it easier to buy advertising, especially as the percentage of Internet listeners is increasing (12% last year, up from 5% in 2000, according to Arbitron and as cited in the article).
So keep your internet radio dial tuned to CBS Radio in June, and you too may find out about those special lunch deals from Times Square.
