rocketeer, you wrote: From the prospective:In the online advertising market, the Company competes directly with DoubleClick.
This is all well and good. If I was NETG, I would put this in my prospective too since DCLK has had such a great stock. Currently, NETG's primary revenue sources are from sales of its ad server software and related consulting services. NETG has made noise about starting a new ad network similar to DCLK, but it is not very far along in doing so. The only mention I can find of this network on their site is from the initial press release (from last December) at:
netgravity.com
The way which NETG competes directly with DCLK is this: Either a site joins an ad network like DCLK and lets them share in the revenue, or that site purchases an ad server, like NETGs, and manages the advertising themselves. Unfortunately, a lot of sites are joining ad networks (good for DCLK, bad for NETG.)
Hearing that Netgravity AdServers deliver 3.5 billion page views a month means nothing to me. It is the same as knowing that Netscape Enterprise Webservers deliver 3.5 billion page views a month. Yeah, it is nice to know, but it could just mean that a few customers with popular websites paid a one time fee of $20,000 for the software which powers their site. Hearing the same for DCLK would be more interesting since they earn revenue for each page view.
I have been well aware of NetGravity since its inception and have a good grasp on what line of business they are in. I have even used their product and believe that it is probably the best in the market.
I just want SI users to know what they are getting into before they blindly buy this stock. NETG is a PRODUCT company with 225 customers in a market with a lot of competitors -- some who even offer similar products for free. They are currently not an "ad network." For that, look to DCLK and companies like 24/7 Media and Flycast.
-- michael |
