Media conglomerate Cox Enterprises Inc., which foresees shrinking newspaper and television audiences and plans to keep an eye on the online market, spent US$300 million to buy a startup, the Associated Press reported.

The deal with Adify Corp., announced Tuesday, represents the latest evolution for the media company, which began over a century ago with one newspaper in Ohio, and later expanded to new areas including radio, television and cable systems in the United States.

"We're absolutely convinced at Cox that online revenue is continuing to grow," said John Dyer, Cox executive vice president for finance. "If you look at Cox's history, we've not necessarily been the first into a space. ... But we've prided ourselves in the course of history in being early investors."

After this acquisition, Cox can get a technology platform which helps Web sites more successfully sell higher-priced ads to targeted audiences, according to the article posted on Yahoo! News.

Adify already runs several ad networks, including one for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. and another of hundreds of independent financial blogs assembled by the online unit of Forbes Inc.

Cox is exploring its own specialty ad networks around such Web assets as cable TV's Travel Channel, the AutoTrader.com classifieds site and the Kudzu local search portal, the Associated Press reported.

Adify will remain its headquarter in San Bruno, Calif. after the deal is done.