San Francisco-based Flycast has become the latest new-media sales
operation to target European advertisers.
The company last week opened offices in London, Stockholm and
Hamburg.
In common with other US-based internet advertising operations, such as
24/7 and DoubleClick, Flycast believes the European market offers
’enormous potential’, explained director of international development
Heidi Kay.
The company has around 15 European staff at present, but Kay said the
business would grow significantly in the next few months.
Flycast provides clients with direct response advertising on a network
of more than 1,000 high-profile websites. Its clients include Finlandia,
Top Jobs on the Net and the Accommodation Search Engine.
’Each client is assigned a media consultant who ensures they get maximum
return on their investment,’ said Kay. ’Initially we run an ad across
1,400 sites. Then we identify sites that are generating the best
responses.’
The European division, headed by Henrik Smith, is based in Hamburg. It
was prompted by Europe’s ’increasingly healthy e-business economy’,
Smith said.
’While Europeans have been slower to embrace the internet than their
American counterparts, the combination of telecom deregulation, free
internet access, increased competition among ISPs and decreasing
connection costs is a recipe for explosive internet growth,’ Smith
explained.
European publishers and marketers had switched on to the internet’s
potential and were launching high-quality local sites, he added.
Flycast was bought earlier this month by CMGI, an acquisitive internet
investment company which also recently acquired the web advertising
companies AdForce and Adsmart. It is believed to have its eye on
new-media sales house 24/7, although it may be challenged by rival
suitor DoubleClick.
Flycast chairman and CEO George Garrick said the company had built a
’strong, seasoned team of internet and advertising experts’ to lead the
company’s drive into Europe.
