UK affiliate network news - LinkShare UK signs new merchants; dgm completes MBO
Leading up to the holiday season, there were a couple of announcements from the affiliate networks that might be of interest to the community.
First up, LinkShare reported a successful completion of its first year in the UK market, having signed up about 40 advertisers, 25 of which are exclusive relationships. The new advertisers include names like Net-A-Porter, Laura Ashley, House of Fraser and Gold Smiths in the retail segment besides properties such as Kayak and Radisson in the travel segment.
40 may not be a huge number, but it is a good start nonetheless; the coming year will most likely see a lot more activity from Linkshare as it makes its aggressive push to penetrate the UK & European market.
Meanwhile, homegrown affiliate network — and one of the first in the UK, in fact– dgm has completed a management buyout (MBO) from the parent company Deal Group Media plc. The buyout was effected by the current Chairman and the CTO of Deal Group Media plc., with the latter continuing to remain a shareholder in the affiliate network. With this buyout, the new entity dgm UK is likely to focus on expanding its affiliate business in the UK and Europe, while the parent company will focus on developing newer markets such as those in the Far East, as reported in the Netimperative article.
Both of these announcements further point to the potential of the European online advertising/ pay-for-performance market. With some dark economic clouds hovering over the US the consequent doubts on growth in the short term, the big players will only be too keen to tap into the European opportunity.
The dealgroupmedia company was founded in 1999, as the UK’s first affiliate network provider.
