Ad Networks Adconion and Glam Pursue Global Expansion

U.K. ad-network Adconion and U.S. women-focused network Glam Media both have plans to expand globally. The two firms announced substantial rounds of investor funding yesterday.

Adconion’s $80 million series C investment will be used “predominantly to expand operations in the U.S. and European markets, as well as branching out into Asia,” the company’s Managing Director Mike James told ClickZ News.

Adconion changed its name from EuroClick last year, and has already opened two offices in the U.S., as well as bases in Canada, Australia, Germany, France, New York and Santa Monica. Possible locations for new offices include Chicago, San Francisco, Japan, China, and additional European territories including Spain, Italy and Scandinavia.

James attributed Adconion’s appeal to the fact that it is one of the U.K.’s largest independent networks, a status he believes is an important selling factor for agencies.

U.S.-based Glam Media also announced the launch of Glam International, through which the company seeks to create operating companies in the U.K., Germany, France and Japan. The company has collected $85 million in new funding.

The expansion of these companies comes as a number of digital agencies and media players have internationalized their operations further, including WPP, which has made a number of recent digital acquisitions abroad, and AOL, which has purchased U.K. affiliate network buy.at.

In a press release yesterday, Glam Commercial Director Shakeel Mughal cited the “rise of display advertising” as the driving factor behind the continued growth of ad networks in the U.K.

Glam operates its own sites, as well as an ad-network comprised of non-Glam sites aimed at a female audience. Glam publisher sites in the U.K. include Shoewawa.com and Hippyshopper.com, and according to ComScore the network received more than 4 million unique visitors in January from within the U.K.

Adconion received over 98 million unique U.S. users in January, and served over 50 million ad impressions daily, according to ComScore. In the U.K. it received around 24 million uniques, with 50 million daily impressions. Advertisers include major U.K. brands such as mobile network operators Orange and O2, and publisher sites include Sony’s online video offering Crackle.com. Ads are sold on a CPM, CPA or revenue-share basis.