24/7 Media Europe Beefs Up Operations in France

24/7 Media Europe said it has expanded its operations in France under the new directorship of Pascal Gayat, former sales director at 24/7 Media France.

The expansion includes a Web site recruitment drive to build up the French inventory available for sale and staff appointments across all departments.

Contracts with three new sites generating over 3 million monthly impressions have been formalized, with others due for completion. These are: Decideur.com, a portal for French managers; Infos MD, which provides communication and marketing management information; and Golfstart, a global site for golfers.

24/7 Media France sells banner campaigns, online sponsorships, e-commerce and direct marketing opportunities on individual sites, run of network and by content channel. Channels currently available are Business, Finance, Culture, Sports, Tourism & Travel and Automotive. Gayat said he expects to develop nine additional content channels totaling some 60 million available monthly impressions by the third quarter. Both Decideur.com and Infos MD will be available through the Business channel, while Golfstart will be added to the Sports offering.

Gayat said the operation is seeing an increased demand for long-term campaigns on the content channels, usually between three months and a year. "As a result, we are looking to sign leading brand-name and smaller targeted properties to existing and newly created channels," he said. Gayat replaced former director of 24/7 Media France, Biatrice Berger.

The operation also hired a new client services manager, a new sales account executive and a new ad operations manager.

To accommodate its expansion, 24/7 Media France has moved to larger offices located at: 14-16 Boulevard Poissonnihre, 75009 Paris.