AdForce Lays Out Plans for International Expansion

AdForce LLC, CMGI‘s ad serving operation, on Tuesday unveiled its plans for international expansion, which build on the European presence of AdTech, a German firm which CMGI bought and folded into AdForce.

The Frankfurt, Germany, headquarters of AdTech serve as AdForce’s base of European operations. Later this year, the company plans to open offices in London, Amsterdam, Paris and Madrid. Although most US Internet advertising firms have begun their European push with a presence in the UK, it’s interesting that, because of the AdTech acquisition, AdForce is starting on non-English-speaking turf.

“We’ve had very satisfying growth in Europe so far this year, more than quadrupling our ad serving from – 3 million impressions per day in December 1999 to 14 million per day in May 2000,” said John Tanner, president of international operations and chief financial officer of AdForce.

“A presence in Europe will better enable AdForce to take advantage of opportunities presented by the region’s strong growth in Internet use.”

Europe is considered to be second only to the United States in the size of its Internet-using population. AdForce’s clients in the region include Netscape International, 24/7 Europe, and, through AdTech, ad pepper media and Pilot.

Plans for Latin American expansion are also in the works. The company says it will establish offices in Mexico City, Sao Paolo, and Buenos Aires.

Because both Europe and Latin America are considered to be ahead of the US in the growth and development of wireless technology, AdForce is emphasizing that market in its expansion plans.