Foursquare Expands Ad Capabilities Into LatAm by Partnering With IMS

Foursquare has selected Internet Media Services (IMS) as its exclusive advertising partner in Latin America. The move is hoped to expand the reach of the company’s advertising tools to new markets.

The partnership will commence this spring and will start with two of Foursquare’s major growing markets – Mexico and Brazil.

“One of the key goals for Foursquare in 2014 is to expand our advertising tools to additional markets worldwide, and we’re glad to work with IMS to enter Latin America,” says Steven Rosenblatt, chief revenue officer of Foursquare, in an announcement.

Under the terms of the agreement, IMS will work closely with advertisers to help them reach consumers through Foursquare’s advertising products. IMS will also act as an in-market extension of Foursquare’s sales team, selling the company’s products to brands and agencies. Both IMS and Foursquare declined to quantify financial specifics of the deal.

Foursquare currently has 45 million registered users. It charges advertisers on a cost-per-action basis, which means they don’t have to pay the location- based social networking site until a user either interacts with an ad or checks into a venue within 72 hours upon seeing that ad.

Prior to the deal with Foursquare, IMS was also selected by other technology companies to partner with, monetize, and navigate the nuances of the Latin American region. In 2012, IMS was selected by Twitter as the company’s exclusive ad sales partner, and in 2013, Waze selected IMS as its exclusive regional ad sales partner. Most recently, Spotify partnered with IMS to enter the market with advertising opportunities on the music-streaming platform.