Internet ad M&A progressing at pace

by Catherine Woods - Friday, 22nd February 2008 -

Independent internet advertising groups such as Unanimis Consulting are a rare breed these days in an industry that’s going crazy for M&A, according to the company’s FD Alex Rahaman.

“We’ve seen a lot of our competitors get bought up by the big players. MSN, Yahoo, Aol have all bought a lot of smaller advertising services and tech businesses,” Rahaman says, adding that he’s surprised at the speed of some of the acquisitions and the price.

“What they’ve bought is technology but advertising is still a people business,” he says.

Unanimis posted turnover of £17m in 2007 and has grown 90 per cent during the past four years. Rahaman says internet advertising is a good space to be in. “I think it will keep growing, really. It’s such a measurable medium.

“It’s also becoming more and more part of people’s lives as they spend time on social networks, and they interact through email and digital TV and their mobiles. Every advertiser wants to be related to these new consumers in a different way and it’s digital.”

Picture source

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