Cox Media Group is rolling out CDS Mobile, a mobile advertising division that will let brands and agencies launch nationwide campaigns across the company's various media properties and use criteria like device model, carrier and time of day.

CDS Mobile will operate within the Cox Digital Solutions division, which spans 2,600 sites including local media properties owned by publishers like Gannett, Belo and McClatchy. In addition to integrating ads into the mobile versions of those sites, CDS Mobile will match the advertiser's specific target market to vertical content sites in more than 20 categories.

CDS Mobile General Manager Leif Welch told MediaPost that Cox Digital's mobile audience includes about 90 million unique visitors per month "and growing." Welch said CDS Mobile will leverage Cox's cross-platform reach to attract advertisers: "When we think about how we can differentiate ourselves in the market, providing a combination of online and mobile is one of the big ways we can do that," he said, adding that the company may offer discounted ad rates for cross-platform buys.

Cox also will supply a suite of ad-serving tools and services for mobile campaigns similar to those available to its Internet advertisers.

Digital advertising revenues reached a new high of $31 billion in 2011, up 22 percent year-over-year, according to data published last month by the Interactive Advertising Bureau. The IAB reports the mobile segment experienced the fastest growth of all advertising categories, raking in 2011 revenues of $1.6 billion--an increase of 149 percent compared to 2010 totals. Mobile advertising now accounts for 5.0 percent of all digital advertising revenues, up from 2.5 percent a year ago.