 RAIN 10/16: TargetSpot acquires Ronning Lipset Radio ·Oct 15, 10:10 AM AD SERVING NETWORK ACQUIRES AD SALES TEAMCBS-backed Internet radio ad network TargetSpot has acquired Internet radio ad sales rep firm Ronning Lipset Radio, in a deal the companies announced today. The acquisition creates the largest online radio ad network, which will now involve CBS Radio, Entercom, AOL Radio and Yahoo, plus more than 1,000 other online stations on more than 50 radio groups and web properties, according to the company’s press release.
Eric Ronning and Andy Lipset will become co-presidents of TargetSpot, which also absorbs the entire RLR sales team. TargetSpot founder Doug Perlson retains his CEO title. Advertisers buy targeted audio and visual ads on a network of 600 online radio stations through TargetSpot. Meanwhile, Ronning Lipset has been selling ads for webcasters like Yahoo!, Live365, AOL Radio and CBS Radio. The New York Times writes (here), “TargetSpot hopes that merging with Ronning Lipset will help it take advantage of [the mobile platform]… ‘I wouldn’t be Prior to co-founding Ronning Lipset Radio in 2003, Ronning had served as an Executive Director in ad sales at Yahoo! and Lipset had served as Director of Sales for AOL Music. Previously in their careers, both had worked in various divisions of Interep. TargetSpot announced the completion of an $8.6 million Series B round of financing, led by Bain Capital Ventures, last March. Prior investors Union Square Ventures, CBS Corporation and Milestone Venture Partners also participated in the round. RAIN ANALYSIS: The two entrepreneurial startups in the Internet radio rep field from earlier in this decade are now both owned by well-funded players — My previous concern about TargetSpot was skepticism that there was latent demand among advertisers to buy radio advertising using a self-service system — as if the lack of such a system was the only thing holding advertisers back from buying radio advertising. The incorporation of a professional ad sales team within TargetSpot addresses that concern. —KH MOTLEY FOOL’S “WINNER AND LOSERS” OF UPCOMING FREE WI-FIA Motley Fool columnist notes that “Free nationwide Wi-Fi is one step closer to reality” this week and sees free Wi-Fi as possibly helping Sirius XM’s web broadcasts: “An ad-supported freebie could help it compete with free Internet radio and serve as a gateway drug for the premium product.” For more, read The Motley Fool’s article here.“THE GREAT PODCASTING DEBATE” EXPLAINEDRadio World columnist Skip Pizzi sums up podcasting and the debate surrounding it: “Looking back, there’s one thing that most agree upon, and which this column predicted in the March 16, 2005 issue: The early fascination with podcasts by amateurs has largely given way to the pros, with most audio podcasts today originating from within the traditional radio content industry…” Find it at Radio World Online here.share: del.icio.us.  Reddit  Digg  Yahoo  Wink  Windows  Google  Newsvine 
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surprised if the audio ad is the most effective ad on a mobile device,’ Perlson said.”
Ronning Lipset Radio by TargetSpot and the former Net Radio Sales by Katz Radio Group, a subsidiary of Clear Channel. Meanwhile, there are now several competing ad-serving systems in place — including systems from TargetSpot, AndoMedia, and Corstarr (which had been Ronning Lipset’s 
