ITV in talks to acquire ad network to boost profits

ITV plans to purchase an ad network as it looks to cash in on the surging online advertising market.

The broadcaster has been in talks with independent ad networks eType, Ad2One and Unanimis for the past month with a view to buying one.

The move would see ITV following in the footsteps of other broadcasters. Channel 4's ad network 4DS launched in February 2007, and holds accounts for sites like goingplaces.co.uk and thomascook.co.uk. Sky bought sport-focused ad network Aura Sports in 2006 to start Sky Digital Media, which now represents around 180 sites.

A purchase would bolster ITV's bid to treble online ad revenues. Last year Jeff Henry, consumer division MD, said it plans to make £150m from online ads by 2010, part of chairman Michael Grade's mission to turn round the fortunes of ITV.

Vincent Letang, senior analyst at Screen Digest, said, "This would be consistent with ITV's digital strategy and could be one way of achieving its target.

"Although it's a bit late, this is still a good move. The broadcaster has many brands online as well as its ad-funded video-on-demand service, and it makes sense with the launch of Kangaroo being bound to increase awareness of online services," he added.

The news comes as research revealed ad networks are expected to see enormous growth. UK media spend on online ad networks will surge by 60% in 2008, to an estimated £385m, said E-consultancy.

ITV recently relaunched social network Friends Reunited, which it bought for £120m in December 2005. Several of the broadcaster's sites draw in millions of users - Friends Reunited attracted 1.7m unique users while ITV.com had 2.9m during March 2008, according to Nielsen Online.

A spokeswoman for ITV said, "We're always exploring options but there are no plans to buy anything at the moment."

www.nma.co.uk Suzanne Bearne 2008-05-15