ValueClick and Fastclick Are Now As One

ValueClick, Inc. has officially integrated its ValueClick Media and Fastclick display ad networks today. Both will now go by the ValueClick Media name. I spoke with the company and some of its partners last week about the change. ValueClick Media GM David Yovanno told me the company has developed a single platform for campaign management across the once-separate networks, and plans on leveraging data like purchasing, shopping and browsing behavior across the ValueClick enterprise.

Traditionally, Fastclick has been more intended for direct-response advertisers, while ValueClick considered more of a branding network for Fortune 500 advertisers. Folks I talked to about the network integration seemed to agree that advertisers are beginning to see networks like ValueClick’s as more legitimate than mere remnant wholesalers.

John Durham, Carat Fusion’s VP/strategy west suggested, “There’s a very positive shift towards networks now.” Carat buys media on the ValueClick network. He added, “The category has a certain sense of maturation since ’99. The evolution of the whole Web publishing world has radically changed.”

Streaming radio network site Live365.com sells display ads that run on its site through ValueClick. Johnie Floater, GM media and networks at Live365.com likes the fact that ValueClick offers site-specific representation for the publisher, which helps bring in higher-paying advertisers like Bose. ‘I needed someone that would take the time to understand who I was as a specific site,” he told me.

According to ValueClick’s Yovanno, the company, which has over 1,000 staffers, plans on opening a Chicago office “soon.”