Online Advertising Goes Audio.

• Position: Brief Article

Dominated by the banner concept, online advertising is trying a different route to entice potential customers to point and click. Finding that visual cues are mostly ineffective as an online sales tool, advertisers are now going for your ear, with audio ads.

Among those experimenting with the new audio-ad alternative is a Seattle-based company, whose efforts are fueled, in part, by Utah money.

TheDial licenses co-branded Internet radio broadcasts to popular sites like Women.com and Salon.com. TheDial's ideas were enough to capture the attention of investors, who ponied up a reported $12 million to launch the idea. With the financial assistance of backers such as Utah Ventures, a private equity venture investment firm with offices in Salt Lake City on Wakara Way, the Web media...