• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, December 13, 2007

In a first for the radio giant, Clear Channel Radio has displaced Yahoo's LaunchCast for the No. 1 spot in streaming Internet radio in October, according to figures from comScore and Arbitron, which track online listening. Clear Channel also bested AOL and Netscape's online radio service.

Clear Channel's online radio, delivered via its network of station Web sites, reached an audience of 1.34 million during the Monday-Friday "work" daypart (6 a.m.-7 p.m.) in October. That represents a 13.1% increase over the network's total audience in September. By comparison, Yahoo's LaunchCast fell 12.1% and AOL/Netscape fell 13.1%.

While this is bad news for the established online players, the October stats hold promise for the aggressive strategy formulated by Evan Harrison, executive vice president of Clear Channel's online division. He directed an overhaul of the network's Web sites and rolled out a number of video products after the company poached him from AOL in November 2004. Under his leadership, the company is also experimenting with social networks hosted by station Web sites.

In general, online radio has seen a flurry of deals to expand music streaming and ad-serving capabilities. In July, Clear Channel's Katz Media Group acquired Net Radio Sales--renamed Katz Net Radio Sales--which allows advertisers to deliver ads across a variety of audio and Web-based platforms, including hundreds of station Web sites in its digital network. The platform also supports a variety of interactive ads, including video content.

Also in July, Ronning Lipset Radio announced that it had partnered with Corstarr to use its Adcor technology for delivering Internet radio ads.

Two months later, TargetSpot--partially owned by CBS Radio, Union Square Ventures and Oddcast--went live with a service that allows advertisers to target by demographic criteria, location (using ZIP codes) or specific stations, with formats including audio and 15-second video. In mid-November, Triton Media Group bought Excelsior Radio Networks, allowing Triton to expand the reach of ads through the latter's online network.

Also last month, CBS Radio signed a deal to bring video content to its radio Web sites through a new partnership with Truveo, a video search service owned by AOL.