EMAP Creates Web Sales House

EMAP has announced the launch of a new sales house to represent UK Web sites to advertisers and their agencies. EMAP Internet Sales is part of the new specialist Internet publishing company EMAP Online which launched this week.

The aim of EMAP Internet Sales is to provide media buyers with a single point of contact from which to buy ad space on UK Web sites. Through the use of a new ad banner management and reporting system, clients will be guaranteed that their ad will be seen a given number of times during a given period. All the sites represented by Internet Sales will be fully audited either by BPA or ABC.

Sandy Abbot, sales manager of Internet Sales, said: “The Web comprises many relatively small sites so that a buyer looking for a meaningful reach would have to go through a number of separate negotiations. Furthermore, many Web sites do not yet employ professional media sales people who can work with agencies to maximise the impact of this new medium.”

The new unit has already signed up sites such as Channel Cyberia, UK Online and EMAP’s own Whatsnew.com. Surveys on the Internet suggest that the medium has a high ABC1 profile and is set to increase its ad revenue from £0.8m to £266.8m by 2001 (see yesterday’s Newsline).

EMAP Online, of which Internet Sales is a part, will focus on the creation of “cutting-edge” services that exploit the potential of the Internet, adding to the online publishing activities already going on in the group. These include Consumer Magazines Online and EMAP Business Communications.

The directors of EMAP Online will be Carol Dukes and Roger Green, who will report to group managing director David Arculus.

EMAP Online: 0171 208 5157