International Data Group (IDG), which publishes various technology related magazines such as PC World, ChannelWorld and CIO in India, has expanded the presence of its international online ad network, called IDG TechNetwork, to India.
For the uninitiated, an ad network connects advertisers with publishers. On one side, it ties up with various publishers to sell or serve ads on their websites and on the other side, it helps advertisers and enables them to get their ads placed on the websites where they expect their target audience to be available.
India is the first market in Asia where IDG has started offering its ad network services to websites and advertisers. Earlier, IDG TechNetwork was present only in the US and the UK markets, where it has tied up with about 150 websites spanning across business technology, consumer technology, digital entertainment and video games worldwide.
Patrick J McGovern, founder and chairperson, IDG, said, “If things go well in India, we will launch IDG TechNetwork in China as well. In India, we are targeting to rope in 35-40 websites offering content related to computers, telecom, online gaming and digital entertainment in the next six months. Blogs which are publishing technology related content and have more than 40,000 unique visitors every month may also be included in the network.”
McGovern adds, “Since we are already in touch with marketers who want to advertise in publications related to technology, it will be easier for us to get advertisers for technology related websites as well.”
The company plans to earn 10 per cent of IDG TechNetwork’s worldwide revenue from the Indian market by 2010 and 25 per cent by 2015. IDG TechNetwork generated $12 million revenue from its US and UK markets in 2008 and it expects to clock about $18 million by the end of 2009.
Similar to other ad networks, IDG TechNetwork will offer various advertising solutions such as online banner, video, rich-media and pure text based advertising options to marketers.
McGovern expects that lead based online advertising campaigns will be more popular in the time of economic slowdown.