• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, November 22, 2013

Digital radio advertising network TargetSpot has partnered with music intelligence company The Echo Nest to offer advertisers more precise targeting for online radio advertising.

Under the terms of the deal, TargetSpot will draw on data from The Echo Nest’s Music Audience Understanding analytics service, which uses music preferences to identify demographic and psychographic advertising segments, without gathering personally identifiable information.
 
The Echo Nest will apply its predictive analysis to TargetSpot’s network to create advertising segments around characteristics like age, gender, lifestyle, and brand affinities, among other things -- all based on music listening habits.
 
The Echo Nest CEO Jim Lucchese noted: “Music has always been one of the most powerful proxies for audience and identity. Together with TargetSpot, The Echo Nest will be unlocking the potential that digital music has in helping publishers and brands better understand, target and reach the right audience with the right message.”
 
TargetSpot’s online radio ad network currently includes over 85 broadcast and online radio groups with thousands of channels spanning a variety of genres, including CBS Radio, ABC News Radio, Univision, Entercom, Live 365 and Slacker.

In April, it signed a deal with Microsoft, giving it access to streaming audio inventory delivered via Microsoft Xbox consoles, as well as Windows 8 and Windows RT tablet computers and PCs, and Windows Phone 8 mobile devices.
 
On the advertising side, TargetSpot offers geographic targeting down to the ZIP code level, as well as targeting by the time of day and retargeting capabilities.

Woman with headphones photo from Shutterstock