Good article on TFSM....
24/7 Expands European Operations
By Matthew W. Beale
E-Commerce Times
August 13, 1999
Online advertising firm 24/7 Media,
Inc. (NASDAQ: TFSM) this week
expanded its European division,
announcing 24/7 Suomi, a new
Finland-based operation that will
advance online marketing and
e-commerce in the region.
The new operation will provide e-commerce and direct
marketing opportunities, along with online advertising
and sponsorship. Resources from the company's other
divisions, including 24/7 Asia, will additionally be made
available, creating an international environment "with
locally tailored solutions."
E-Commerce for Finland
According to the company, "24/7 Suomi will be Finland's
only online ad sales network that is a fully integrated,
wholly-owned part of an international network, able to
offer complete global services to Finnish advertisers and
Web sites." The New York-based firm will be expanding
upon its current operations that include online holdings
in 12 European countries.
"With growth of the online advertising market expected
to reach 100-150% annually in Finland, this is a great
time to be involved in the industry's development,"
commented Mark Burchill, worldwide business
development senior vice president for 24/7 Media.
Burchill added that "with professional staff, strong
co-operation from our partners and by drawing on the
experience and support of the entire international 24/7
organization, we anticipate that 24/7 Suomi will become
the leading online advertising company in Finland by the
end of this year." The company hopes that its Finnish
expansion will add to its existent momentum in the
expanding European online market.
Internet Free Europe
Estimating that the online advertising market in Europe
will hit close to $485 million (US$) by the close of 1999,
24/7 additionally sees it rising to $1.65 billion by 2001.
By 2004, the market could pass the mark of $5 billion.
24/7 Europe currently represents and maintains over 100
Europe-based Web sites.
According to am eMarketer report, there will be some 84
million Internet users in Europe by 2002, "making Europe
the second largest regional market after North America."
eMarketer predicts that e-commerce revenues will
subsequently hit $179.5 billion in 2002, increasing to
$358 billion by 2003.
About 24/7 Media
With offices in 28 cities in 15 countries, 24/7 Media runs
global online advertising and direct marketing networks,
providing online media sales services to advertisers and
Web publishers. The company also owns and operates --
among its various holdings -- 24/7 Profilz, an "online
co-op database of Web user profiles used to deliver
targeted online banner and email campaigns."
Poised To Explode
By Mary Hillebrand and Robert Conlin
E-Commerce Times
August 12, 1999
As the business of buying and selling in
cyberspace continues to mature, online
companies are also adjusting their
advertising and marketing strategies to
lure increasingly savvy buyers.
Companies will not stop buying online
ads, a new report from Forrester Research Inc. (Nasdaq:
FORR) says, but they will base their decisions more
directly on the results those ads garner.
At the same time, one new advertising company is urging
advertisers not to ignore the value of traditional media for
promoting online products, services and Web sites.
Netserts.com, a Charlotte, North Carolina, print
advertising company, argues consumers continue to look
at ad inserts in their Sunday newspapers for product
information.
Netserts.com has developed an offline guide for online
consumers, which it plans to distribute this fall in Sunday
newspapers and USA Today. The four-color, glossy
guidebook will be delivered biweekly to 20 million
consumers, starting October 15th.
The company is encouraging online merchants to use the
circular as traditional advertisers do, by including product
and service information, coupons, rebates, sweepstakes,
discounts and trial offers -- to lure readers to their Web
sites. "This new marketing medium is filling a growing void
faced by online businesses lost in the vastness of
cyberspace," Netserts.com says.
Burgeoning Online Marketing
Charlene Li, the company's senior analyst in New Media
Research, said that the growth of online ad revenues is
inevitable, given every indication that the Internet user
population will only get larger with time.
"Spending for online advertising is being driven by a
self-perpetuating cycle," said Li. "As the online audience
continues to grow and e-commerce accelerates, more and
more marketing dollars will be drawn to the Web. These
trends will be enhanced by the arrival of new technologies
that improve the accountability of Web advertising.
Diversified Strategies
Diversified advertising strategies will be the key to
effective marketing as the online business becomes more
competitive, Netserts.com argues. Forrester 's study,
however, remains bullish on the power of online ads over
the next five years. Although increased ad spending would
seem to give content sites leverage in the ad selling
process, page view growth will far outpace ad spending
growth, the researcher says.
"With new [return-on-investment] tracking tools and
plenty of ad inventory available, marketers will
increasingly demand performance-based deals," Forrester
says, predicting 53 percent of U.S. online ad spending by
2004 will be based on performance.
By 2004, online advertising's share of all ad spending will
be larger than the shares contributed by magazines,
yellow pages or radio spending, the company says. In its
study, Forrester estimates global spending for online
advertising will reach $33 billion (US$) by 2004, and
one-third of that money will be spent outside the United
States. Some ad money traditionally spent on offline
avails will be reallocated to contribute to that growth, the
researcher predicts.
Advertising Overseas
Outside the U.S., Forrester predicts that online
advertising will reach $10.8 billion by 2004. The company
said that worldwide markets would grow at a quicker rate
than the U.S., primarily because they start with a smaller
base and will learn from the established U.S. online
industry.
Europe, it predicts, will produce $5.1 billion in ad spending
by 2004, Asia/Pacific will generate $3.3 billion and Latin
America online ad revenues will increase to $1.6 billion.
Forrester said the report drew upon interviews with 50
online and offline marketers, publicly reported revenues of
Internet companies and the company's data about online
usage. The projections were adjusted downward to
account for non-cash ad revenues like barter ads and
revenue sharing.
Portrait of a Profit
Still, the report paints a rosy picture for the online
industry. The company expects online advertising to take
a significant bite out of traditional ad mediums, luring
away $27 billion - or 10 percent of all U.S. advertising
spending. It predicts that newspapers and direct-mail will
be the big losers, seeing a drop-off of 18 percent in
revenues by 2004.
"While all forms of traditional media will experience
slower-than-expected growth, newspapers and direct mail
will be the most affected," Forrester says, predicting they
will lose as much as 18 percent of their expected
revenues in 2004.
The report, "Internet Advertising Skyrockets," is based on
interviews with 50 online and offline marketers, publicly
reported revenues of Internet companies, and Forrester
data about consumer online usage. Forrester Research,
founded in 1983, is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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