From next Monday (8 December), the two teams will operate as one, although there will still be separate sales teams for selling sponsorship, promotions and scheduling around Absolute radio. Currently, there are four people selling digital and 10 running agency sales.
As part of the changes, Absolute is creating two new group head roles to run the merged sales team. Each will be responsible for relations with different agencies. The positions will be filled internally.
Nick Hewat, Absolute radio commercial director, said internal research showed that using radio and online together for campaigns can deliver 3.9 times more brand recall than when the internet is used alone.
"The merger is something our customers have been asking for and we feel we needed to do this to reflect the convergence of on-air and online. It you sell the two together you get better value for customers," he said.
"It's the right time to bring these two sales teams together."
In the same piece of research, in which GfK polled 3,000 Absolute radio listeners, 70% used a search engine to look up brands after hearing radio ads. Using the internet and radio simultaneously also increased the likelihood of visiting the relevant website by 21%.
On 29 September, after 15 years and five months of contin-uous broadcasting, Virgin Radio ceased operations and officially became Absolute.
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