Advertising/Marketing Sector Builds A Buzz

A seemingly endless supply of companies, along with DoubleClick
and CMGI’s voracious appetites, could make the advertising/marketing
sector as popular as B2B e-commerce stocks next year.

It resembles not so much a chess match as a race to buy up all the
pieces on the board.

Online ad services and direct marketing rivals DoubleClick (DCLK)
and CMGI (CMGI)
continue their battle for supremacy in online advertising and direct
marketing, with CMGI making the latest move by announcing Wednesday its
plans to buy “opt-in” e-mail marketer yesmail.com.

It’s actually more of a countermove, coming after DoubleClick’s
announcement two weeks ago that it would launch two e-mail advertising
services in 2000.

This showdown has been brewing all year, but the action intensified in
September when CMGI bought three online ad-related companies: Flycast Communications (FCST),
AdForce (ADFC)
and AdKnowledge.

Soon after rumors were flying about DoubleClick buying competing
ad-services company 24/7 Media (TFSM).
All this activity and speculation made advertising/marketing the hottest
of 12 Internet sectors for much of the early fall. (Advertising
Sector Feeding Frenzy
)

DoubleClick never did buy 24/7 Media (or at least it hasn’t yet). In
fact, 24/7 Media announced in early November a new ad delivery and
management system that competes with offerings from DoubleClick and
AdForce.

And the advertising/marketing sector cooled off for much of October and
November. But it roared back in the past two weeks, leading all Internet
groups with an astounding 41 percent gain in the week ended Dec. 8. (Special
Deal For Internet Stocks
)

Meanwhile, a half-dozen other advertising and marketing companies have
gone public since October, creating even more buzz around the sector.

This seemingly endless supply of companies, along with DoubleClick and
CMGI’s voracious appetites, could make the advertising/marketing sectoras popular as B2B e-commerce stocks next year.


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