As Google struggles to adapt its ad management system for offline media, SoftWave Media Exchange is becoming an established presence, claiming that net revenues from its online radio and TV media marketplace more than tripled between the first and third quarters of 2006, reaching $704,725.

SoftWave CEO Josh Wexler is quoted by MediaPost as saying online management of offline campaigns is moving quickly into the mainstream, and major agencies like OMD and Starcom MediaVest are already making big buys. "They start with one campaign for $10,000 to $20,000 and now are running into the hundreds of thousands. We buy 300 to 400 radio stations in any given week," Wexler said.

SoftWave is testing the system in the TV marketplace with several cable operators, and Wexler expects to have hundreds of stations on board soon. "If we were Google, this would be headlines," says Bill Figenshu, SoftWave's COO. "But we suck at search."