Friday, March 2, 2007

24/7 reports strong 4Q, plans to expand into Asia

http://www.dmnews.com/cms/dm-news/ad-serving/40253.html

By Cara Wood
March 2nd, 2007

International digital marketing agency 24/7 Real Media Inc. yesterday announced its fourth quarter revenue of $60 million, an increase of 44 percent over the $41.7 million reported in 2005. Total revenue for the year was reported at $200.2 million.

The 10-year-old New York-based company, which has about 400 employees in 20 offices around the world, also recently announced plans to deepen its search engine marketing partnership called K.K. 24-7 Search with Dentsu, an alliance it struck in Japan last year. This new venture will establish operations to service advertising markets in China, India, Korea, Thailand and Taiwan.

“Our home base is really throughout the regions of the word and not based in any particular market,” said Jonathan K. Hsu, chief operating officer and chief financial officer at 24/7, speaking to the increasing global ambitions of the company.

International operations made up 61 percent of the total revenue for the quarter. The company attributed this growth in part to strong performance increases in Korea (72 percent) and Britain (42 percent).

Compared to fourth quarter 2005, revenues increased across the board in three product segments: media (39 percent), search (59 percent) and technology (21 percent).

In forward-looking statements, the company projected first quarter revenue for 2007 to be between $58 million and $59 million. The agency raised the guidance for the full year 2007 revenue to fall between $255 million to $265 million.

The company also expressed potential slower growth in the search business during 2007 due to a competitive job market and the potential loss of key employees. The outlook during a March 1 conference call was positive.

“We are winning larger search clients,” Mr. Hsu said. “We have been able to manage [called K.K. 24-7 Search] to profitability rather quickly, which is a testament to our proven business model, and lend support to the planned expansion.”

Technology investments and global expansions were key features of the company’s strategy moving forward.

“We’re going to continue to explore and engage in video and mobile technologies,” said David J. Moore, chairman and CEO of 24/7 Real Media. “We want to work to ensure that our technology meets standards of innovation.”

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