Last.fm Gets Ads to Shake Their Moneymaker

(MoneyWatch)  In a particularly inspired bit of sharpening up its online ad offerings, Toronto-based UpTrend Media rolled out some new features for advertisers on music social network Last.fm -- ads that move in time with the music. Via Adotas:

Current advertisers, like Converse and Motorola, can incorporate ad messages that move to the beat of the music and serve maps that offer concert listings. Companies can also target users with demographic or psychographic technology.

UpTrend Media, which signed Last.fm in April, is rolling out a whole new redesign of the site. It's a slick move on Last.fm's part, nicely incorporating their brand and adding fucntionality to advertisers. For publishers reliant on display ad revenue, every bit counts. An iMedia report out today quotes a recent forecast by Borrell Associates, finding:

Spending on online display ads (web page banners, pop-ups, etc.) have been flat the past two years and are expected to top out at $12.6 billion in 2008, then decline more than 50 percent by 2012.

The display ad marketplace is about to tighten considerably, so innovators like Last.fm and UpTrend should do well even as others falter.