EBay to begin auctioning radio advertising time

Online auctioneer EBay Inc. said Tuesday that it was ready to begin auctioning advertising airtime on 2,300 participating U.S. radio stations, expanding on an existing plan to sell cable television ads.

The move, which puts EBay into competition with Web search leader Google Inc.’s recent expansion into radio advertising, involves EBay partnering with Encino-based Bid4Spots Inc. to power what it calls the EBay Media Marketplace for Radio.

The new U.S. auction market for radio advertising will go live today and include conventional terrestrial radio and Internet radio advertising. Stations in all of the 300 top-ranked radio markets are covered, EBay said.

The ad auction push has met with some resistance from broadcasters who fear the auctions could put stiff pressure on advertising rates.

Last week, cable network Oxygen said it had become the first cable programmer to use the EBay Media Marketplace for Cable TV to sell national spots on its programs. EBay said its radio ad auctions would focus on last-minute ad buys.

“This flexibility enables stations to be extremely aggressive in their pricing,” an EBay spokesman said.