Northcliffe signs in-store radio broadcast deal with Immedia

Publishing group Northcliffe, part of Daily Mail & General Trust, is to advertise its regional papers and promotions through a live in-store radio network, to be run by Immedia Broadcasting.

The network, branded News Shop Live, will run through Northcliffe Retail’s 69 stores, with plans to extend to a further 300 affiliated shops within months.

Immedia’s presenters will write and record local branding and promotions that will be sent to each store to be broadcast. Northcliffe Retail will also be able to sell space to other advertisers.

It means advertising content can be localised to individual paper circulation areas. Northcliffe will also be able to advertise in-paper offers and promotional activity.

The station is a tailored version of Immedia’s Impulse Live station for the convenience sector, which covers branches of Texaco petrol stations, Londis and Spar.

Northcliffe will pay an annual fee to Immedia – which was founded and is run by former Radio 1 DJ Bruno Brookes – and sell airtime to advertisers, with Immedia receiving a portion of revenue.

The expansion of Immedia’s in-store radio network comes a week after it announced the appointment of ABC Media as its media sales house. Earlier this year, the company appointed Unique Media Sales to handle its advertising (MW February 3) but Brookes, the company’s chief executive, says this was only a consultancy role.

Brookes is planning to double the size of his company and to expand internationally. It already has a radio network in Norwegian pharmacy chain Vitusapotek. It also runs HSBC Live, Dixons Live and Lloydspharmacy Live.

It has also been testing its Radiovision technology – which enables in-store screens to be plugged into Immedia’s transmitter for content that matches the radio output – in Lloydspharmacy stores for the past three months.