Flycast Sets Its Net in Europe

Internet ad company Flycast Communications Corp. Monday packed its bags and went to Europe, eyeing what it expects to become a booming Web advertising market.

The company plans to set up shop in the U.K., Scandinavia and Germany as key markets within Europe.

“Whereas Europeans have been slower to embrace the Internet than their North American counterparts, the combination of telecom deregulation, free Internet access, increased competition among ISPs and decreasing connection costs is a recipe for explosive Internet growth,” said Henrik Smith, general manager of Flycast’s European division.

Smith also pointed to the proliferation of non-English language sites as an additional motivator.

Flycast (FCST) will market its response-based Web advertising solutions out of headquarters in Hamburg, with other offices located in Stockholm and London.

Forrester projects that Internet advertising revenues in the UK will increase from $81 million this year to $955 million by 2003. The research firm expects Germany to spike from $92 million to $1.2 billion in five years, and Scandinavia to hit $222 million up from $26 million in the same period.

Flycast last month was acquired by CMGI (CMGI) and two weeks ago reported better-than-expected third quarter earnings, including a 70 percent revenue increase.