• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, September 21, 2007

TargetSpot launched in a big way Wednesday with the announcement that it has signed up three more partners: Beasley Broadcast Group, Haystack Media, an online music service, and Rubber City Radio. With TargetSpot's system, new partners can offer advertisers the ability to create, buy and place ads in their streaming audio content.

TargetSpot's partners also include Entercom, WarpRadio and CBS Radio. CBS invested an undisclosed amount in TargetSpot in April of this year, along with Union Square Ventures and Oddcast, which helped develop the company's online technology.

The system allows advertisers to create audio and video ads and target them by demographic, geographic and specific station criteria, syncing them with banner-type graphic ads. Altogether, its network now includes more than 400 online broadcasters.

Streaming audio is enjoying growing popularity on the Web, and radio broadcasters and ad sales networks have moved quickly over the last several months to bulk up their online sales capabilities.

In July, Katz Media Group acquired Net Radio Sales, renamed Katz Net Radio Sales--allowing advertisers to deliver ads across a variety of audio and Web-based platforms, including hundreds of station Web sites in its digital network. The company also provides a variety of interactive ads to station Web sites.

Also in July, Ronning Lipset Radio announced that it had partnered with Corstarr to use its Adcor technology for delivering Internet radio ads. Adcor allows broadcasters to set up multiple radio channels and deliver ads across one or all of them, targeting audiences by demographic characteristics and daypart.