Virgin Radio has announced the first ten advertisers for its online radio service, which launched on 9 October.
They are Direct Line, 365 Corporation, elephant.co.uk, intersaver.co.uk, iobox.com, monster.co.uk, supergoals. com, thesun.co.uk, utravel. co.uk and Xerox.
Each of the advertisers is using the site to drive listeners to their websites rather than traditional sales channels. Advertisers such as Direct Line are using the online advertising to support on-air sponsorship deals.
Virgin's online radio service allows for different versions of advertising for online listeners. The programming is the same as Virgin Radio, but branding is different.
Simon Parkes, head of UK marketing at monster.co.uk, said: 'Our message reaches people in a work environment at a time when they are most likely to be receptive to job opportunities. They can visit our website immediately because they are already online.'
Steve Taylor, the enterprise director at Virgin Radio, said: 'Our listeners have a greater propensity to use the internet than the norm, and tend to be early adopters of technology, which makes them attractive for our new online clients.'
Virgin is promoting the online service with trails on Virgin Radio's AM and FM services for the next two months. A series of competitions will be used to attract people to the site.
Rajar research shows that 2.4 million adults have visited a UK radio station website. Online radio listeners are twice as likely to buy online compared with other radio listeners, according to Arbitron, the online research company.
