Thursday February 14, 05:22 PM
Phorm in exclusive ad platform deals with BT, TalkTalk and Virgin Media UPDATE
(Adds detail from interview with CEO, analyst comment, share price)
LONDON (Thomson Financial) - AIM-listed advertising technology company Phorm Inc, formerly 121Media Inc, said it has entered into exclusive advertising platform agreements
with UK internet service providers BT PLC, Carphone Warehouse Group PLC's TalkTalk and Virgin Media Inc (NASDAQ: VMED - news) .
Phorm (LSE: PHRX.L - news) 's technology will provide the ISPs with a new online advertising platform, the Open Internet Exchange, which will enable targeted advertising based on the search and browsing habits of the service providers customers, although the system anonymises the ISP data thereby safeguarding online privacy by protecting the identity of the consumers.
The ISP provides the data on customer browsing habits, the advertiser provides the revenue and the websites provide the 'real estate' on which to put the adverts, Phorm chairman and chief executive Kent Ertugrul explained in an interview with Thomson Financial News.
The system can accept advertising based on a cost per click model, which generates revenue if the browser clicks on the advert, or a cost per thousand basis, which costs just to show the advert, and the ISP and Phorm will split the ad revenue after paying for the 'real estate'.
The ISPs will also get Webwise, a free software tool which offers greater consumer protection from fraud and phishing scams by warning customers if they are browsing fraudulent websites.
Ertugrul said the company did not know exactly when the ISPs would deploy Phorm's system on their network but he believes it will be relatively shortly.
He also said Phorm is in conversation with all the UK internet service providers about its OIX system, commenting that he is 'optimistic of the likelihood of their participation'.
Investec (LSE: INVP.L - news) believes this is a good opportunity for BT (LSE: BT-A.L - news) and Carphone Warehouse (LSE: CPW.L - news) 'to gain an entirely new revenue stream, taking a cut of the advertising revenue passing through to their subscriber bases.'
'Given the highly-targeted nature of the OIX platform the adverts would be very high value, enabling premium price levels,' the broker added.
While Investec acknowledges there are execution risks to the OIX business model, it expects rollout to continue through 2009 after recent trials.
Phorm closed up 10.30 pct or 300 pence higher at 3,088 pence, BT closed up 2.43 pct or 5-1/2 pence at 231-1/2 while Carphone Warehouse closed down 1.96 pct or 6-1/4 pence at 313-1/4.
|
Send Article by Email
