• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, April 8, 2010

Broadening its horizons, online ad rep Burst Media on Wednesday announced the acquisition of London-based ad network On The Phone Media. Founded in 1995, the Burlington, Mass.-based Burst helps advertisers to reach finely segmented consumers as they visit its various interest-based sub-channels.

The UK is not entirely foreign to Burst. In February, its network reached nearly 12.3 million unique viewers in the market.

Still, "this acquisition adds to the value of what both companies can bring to UK publishers and the resources they can put to work for UK advertisers," said Jarvis Coffin, CEO of Burst Media.

Founded in 2002, OTP specialized in premium advertising in the areas of parenting, automotive, sport, food and entertainment.

"This acquisition helps us both to expand our services and solutions that we provide publishers," said Ian Woolley, managing director of OTP Media.

Just over a year ago, Burst acquired New York-based entertainment portal/ad network Giant Realm for $2.1 million in cash and stock. According to reports, Burst is paying about the same amount for OTP, but terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Burst's vertical audience networks include Auto, Entertainment, Moms, Early Adopters, Family Builders, Baby Boomers, Family Travelers, Green, Trendsetters, Gamers, Thought Leaders and Wellness.

Burst also offers publisher-led networks including the CDKitchen Cooking Network, the RealGM Sports Network, the Daily Jolt College Network and the Kiwibox Teen Network.

Presently, OTP exclusively represents sites such as www.streetmap.co.uk, www.carpages.co.uk, www.deliaonline.com, www.192.com, and www.Robbiewilliams.com.

Targeting men ages 18-34, Giant Realm was founded by the William Morris Agency in mid-2007, and consequently grew to encompass dozens of sites geared toward video games, sci-fi and independent movies and music.