• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, November 14, 2012

Katz 360 Sales, the digital sales division of Katz Media Group, is expanding its digital advertising offerings to become a full-service interactive ad network, the company announced Wednesday.

The expansion includes new social, local, mobile location-based, and social advertising services. It will be led by Mort Greenberg, who was recently named president of Katz 360 Sales.
 
The transition entails a greater focus on online ad reporting, analytics and optimization, as part of a push to offer more precise cross-platform targeting and greater accountability. Katz 360 also plans to draw on more third-party sources of digital ad inventory.
 
As part of the transformation, Katz will get a new (as-yet-unrevealed) brand name and corporate structure, including a new international sales team. The company also plans to launch a new creative lab to develop campaigns customized to take advantage of brands’ unique identities and market strengths.
 
Katz currently operates four main digital platforms: online digital audio, mobile, database and display.
 
The strategic overhaul aims to help Katz and its affiliates capture more digital advertising dollars.

While Internet radio and online and mobile advertising in general are all booming, radio broadcasters have only managed to secure a fairly small slice of this business. According to the Radio Advertising Bureau, the radio industry’s total digital advertising revenues came to $356 million in the first half of 2012, or just 4.5% of total revenues of about $7.9 billion.

The growth rate for radio’s digital ad revenues in the first half -- 7% year-over-year -- also lags behind the growth rate for online advertising overall, which increased 14% to $17 billion in the first half of the year, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

"Radio photo from Shutterstock"