ZenithOptimedia looking at India acquisitions

NEW DELHI: UK-based media agency, ZenithOptimedia — a part of the e4.3-billion French advertising & communications conglomerate Publicis Groupe — is looking to make imminent acquisitions in the digital and search engine space. The initiative in India would be driven through its digital arm— Zed Digital— launched on Thursday.

However, ZenithOptimedia global CEO Steve King, who was in India for the launch of Zed Digital, declined to give details. “We would be interested in acquiring players in the mobile & ITeS area but not immediately. Search engine specialists form almost 55% of the total ad spend making it an exciting option,” he told ET.
The agency expects its digital platform to contribute almost 15% to its overall business in India within the next three years. “

With the advent of technology, media habits have changed dramatically in the last couple of years. Virals, blogs, texts have transformed media consumption. Although it’s early days in India with only 1% of ad spends on the internet, we see a huge potential in this space,” Mr King added.

In 2006, ZenithOptimedia had unified and rebranded all its European interactive and digital units under the name Zed Digital, in the first phase of its roll-out with a view of global acquisitions in the digital performance marketing industry. Zed Digital specialises in all digital platforms, from interactive performance marketing to mobile. Vineet Mathur has been appointed senior V-P of Zed Digital in India.

Citing the example of UK, which has the world’s most developed online advertising sector, with 13.5% of British ad spend going into internet advertising, King said, “The return on investment on the internet is better with the cost per click being measurable.

We plan to implement the same in India to offer accountability to advertisers.” A ZenithOptimedia study shows that online’s share of total advertising is set to reach 8.6% in 2009 from 5.8% in 2006. The company is also looking to bring accountability in sporting events in India with its consultancy outfit— Sponsorship Intelligence.

With a focus on digital communication, the Publicis Groupe SA, recently bought a U.S. digital marketing company Digitas Inc. for about $1.3 billion in cash. The group has made digital communications worldwide a top strategic priority and expects to derive 25% of total revenue from digital, interactive and mobile activities by 2010.