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eBay Enters the Radio Business

by Terrence O'Brien on June 6, 2007 at 05:33 PM

eBay Enters the Radio Business
Starting today, eBay is accepting bids for dead air. Through a partnership with Bid4Spots of Encino, California, the world's leading auction site now lets advertisers vie for unsold radio inventory from 2,300 stations in the top 300 U.S. markets. This comes on the heels of April's news that Google's had struck a deal to sell ads with Clear Channel, the country's biggest operator of radio stations.

The radio sales go down via eBay's Media Marketplace, which launched back in March as a venue for cable TV stations to sell advertising time. It works as a reverse auction where advertisers post how much they're willing to pay for a block of time, and broadcasters respond with offers. Unfortunately, Marketplace has been less than a success thus far, with only women's cable network, Oxygen, participating. This time, eBay has taken some precautions: Broadcasters and advertisers already familiar with the Bid4Spots system can stay with Bid4Spots if they find they prefer it to eBay.

Not only is eBay hoping that this expansion into radio will provide a boon to its online ad sales, but some media analysts think that eBay sellers may start promoting their wares over the air.

We look forward to the day when it's commonplace to be driving down the highway and suddenly hear an ad for toast shaped like the Virgin Mary.

From The New York Times

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Tags: advertisement, ebay, radio

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