24/7 Real Media Launches B2B Ad Network

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Digital marketing company 24/7 Real Media is getting into the ad network game with a business-to-business offering of its own. The network, BBN, launches with four publishing partners: Cygnus Business Media, Nielsen Business Media, Reed Business Information, and The McGraw-Hill Companies.

The network, announced yesterday, starts off with access to more 200 business-to-business (B2B) Web properties, including CPA Technology Advisor, as well as nearly 10 million unique monthly users.

Ari Bluman, SVP of North American sales and operations for 24/7, a unit of The WPP Group, said BBN would fill an underserved niche among ad networks, despite the growing number now available to advertisers.

"There are now more than 200 ad networks in the U.S. alone, so agencies and advertisers can easily get lost among the different types," he said. "Our focus is to combine the most advanced targeting with the highest quality publishers. What we bring to the table is a quality audience, exclusive niche content, plus reach, which means efficiency."

BBN will use 24/7's Open Adstream ad-serving technology to target and deliver ads. The network will invite other publishers to join later this year, the company said in a release.

"Instead of just buying specific niche publications, advertisers will now be able to do it across four behemoths of the B-to-B space," said Bluman. "This will dominate B-to-B from a network perspective.

U.K.-based WPP agreed to buy 24/7 11 months ago for $649 million. At the time, AdStream was said to be the holding company's primary reason for making the offer.

Derek Reisfield, former CBS executive and MarketWatch co-founder, will serve as BBN's chairman.