Online advertising is a new medium for a lot of companies. And like every new medium, it does take time to build a network.
It is with this consistency and growth that ikoo.com has cut a niche for itself as ‘The Advertising Network’ in the Middle East region, having been a player in the online advertising business for over four years now.
“ikoo is a bit more than a portal, we are an advertising network where we allow publishers and advertisers to work together through our platform,” says Isam Bayazidi, the Chief Executive of
www.ikoo.com.
“We provide proper technology and target audience to make advertising possible. We have more than 120 sites within the network through single point of sales, booking and contact that help clients to advertise in all these sites,” Bayazidi adds.
Online marketing campaigns
The Middle-East market is growing in terms of internet usage and now a lot of companies are looking at having a marketing campaign online.
With this potential growth, ikoo certainly has an advantage as it has been in the online advertising industry for more number of years as compared to its competitors.
“We have been in the market for a long time and that’s the reason for our sizeable network. In December 2009, we reached 40 million unique users in the Arab world which is two-thirds of the online audience in the region and there’s no site with that kind of reach. This is only possible with an advertising network and that’s certainly an edge for us,” the executive says.
Bayazidi adds that with the reach and network it has, ikoo can provide accurate measurability and target audience that a customer wants, which is also an advantage for them.
Ikoo makes marketing unique for its clients as they provide a feature known as ‘text advertising’.
“We use the Kalimat System on ikoo that makes agencies and advertisers to target up to the context of the page that the advert is being displayed on. The presentation of the displayed ads is such that it makes it appealing to the viewers,” he explains.
Definite Return on Investment
The measurability that online advertising provides is beyond what an offline medium can. However, when it comes to return on revenue, the conventional media still rates above that of internet.
Bayazidi emphasises that it is possible for advertisers to know the exact number of users who view the advertisement and their subsequent reaction to the specific advert.
“It’s not possible to get this kind of measurability in conventional media like print and radio and television,” he says.
In spite of accurate measurability, a lot of advertising agencies and companies have to be convinced to put their money in online advertising.
“We’ve been here for some time but we have a long way to go in educating the users about advertising online. So far we’ve seen growing interest and knowledge in advertising community on the online value as a medium,” says Bayazidi.
A couple of years ago ikoo saw that it wasn’t as appealing for advertisers to go online as it was for offline, but today the company is seeing more demand as people are asking about it setting aside budgets for online advertising.
“To measure the return on investment can’t be more accurate on online medium, says Bayazidi.
“We can accurately measure return on investment on each one of the visitors who have visited the site and the advert.”
“That kind of measurability is far from what traditional media can offer- it is usually dependant on research, polls and statistics as to how many people have seen or heard the advertisement,” he explains.
“Online’s targeting capabilities are also more in terms of geography, location of the ad and segment of users. It reduces wastage and maximizes return on investment.”
Online advertising budget growth
The acceptability and availability of internet in the Middle East has significantly changed the scene in the region. Due to this, ikoo is finding it easy to reach for the clients who would like to go online.
“Probably with the growth of online usage a lot of people are being exposed to online advertising more, they now see it as a viable option for their marketing activities,” Bayazidi says.
“We still have a long way to go when it comes to educating the market and how you can maximise return with online advertising, but the reach it has is definitely seeking a lot of interest.”
When it comes to advertising online, Saudi Arabia and UAE have been most beneficial in terms of market growth so far.
“But we are also seeing growth in North Africa. Today we are seeing more than 50 per cent of the users coming to us are from Egypt, Morocco, Libya and Algeria. With that growth in usage and uptake, we’re expanding our sales team to ensure that the North African region is covered well,” explains Bayazidi.
In mature markets, the growth in online advertising is at a level where it competes with offline mediums in terms of advertising budgets. In UK, for instance, 40 per cent of the overall advertising money goes in online advertising.
In this region, it’s less than 2 per cent. However, in the coming years, content and technology is expected to advance thereby attracting more advertisers.
This year, ikoo plans to introduce an affiliate network to give it more business edge.
“This will help advertisers that have transactions online like airline companies, bidding and e-commerce platforms,” Bayazidi says, adding “We’ll partner with them on generating sales in exchange of a fee or revenue share.”
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