• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, July 14, 2010

Citadel Media has created 10 new radio advertising networks allowing advertisers to reach a number of different demographic target groups. The new ad networks offer a combination of affiliate radio stations reaching audiences with listener profiles defined by age, ethnicity, income, gender and behavioral attributes.

The networks will be available to advertisers by the end of Citadel's fourth fiscal quarter.

The new network categories are Contemporary FM, Contemporary FM Weekend, Family FM, Boomer FM, Boomer FM Weekend, News & Info, Upscale Adult, Entertainment Weekend, Metro Latino, and Nuestra Familia. Citadel Media will provide advertisers with information on each net's coverage, audience composition and ratings, as well as certain key lifestyle characteristics.

John Rosso, president of Citadel Media, explained the move: "This effort represents a fundamental change in how we target and allocate inventory, which will result in a greater return on investment for our advertisers."

Company research, coupled with "direct feedback from our advertisers led to the creation of a more efficient, transparent grouping of our nets," added Edwin Rivera-Searles, Citadel Media's senior vice president of sales.

Citadel Media (which is owned by the Citadel Broadcasting radio group) represents 4,200 affiliate radio stations reaching more than 107 million listeners ages 12+ on a weekly basis, including ABC News, various popular talk shows, and English and Spanish-language programming targeting Hispanic audiences.

On the digital side, it also handles online interactive advertising, streaming audio and podcasts.

National radio ad sales are enjoying relatively strong growth moving into the second half of 2010, judging by results from the first half of the year and national radio ad sales rep firms. According to the Radio Advertising Bureau, network sales increased 6% in the first quarter of 2010 compared to the same period in 2009 to $260 million, while national sales increased 19% to $568 million, compared to a local growth rate of just 2%.

Katz -- which represents Citadel Broadcasting in a number of markets -- recently said national spot sales are trending up by double-digit percentages through September.