Dentsu and Skype Sign an Agreement to Launch Display Advertising Offering in Japan
TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dentsu Inc. (TOKYO:4324)(ISIN:JP3551520004)(President & CEO: Tadashi Ishii; Head Office: Tokyo; Capital: 58,967.1 million yen) announced today that it has concluded a contract to be the exclusive* display advertising partner in Japan for global communications platform provider Skype Technologies S.A. (Luxembourg; CEO: Tony Bates) as of July 2011. The company will start selling Skype's digital inventory, which will appear in the "Home" tab of Skype for Windows (version 5.1 and above) with immediate effect.
With an average of 170 million monthly connected users worldwide1 making calls domestically and internationally and approximately 30 million concurrent users at peak times2, Skype's reach and engaged user base make it an attractive platform for brands to market their products. Popular with both business users and consumers alike, Skype offers rich communications ranging from free Skype-to-Skype audio and video calling, to Group Video Calling and making low cost calls to landlines and mobiles all over the world.
Dentsu and Skype will offer advertisers an opportunity to be part of the Skype experience through 'Skype Home' which provides a large masthead space for advertisers to display rich and interactive ads. Skype users are shown to spend more time on Skype Home ? an average of 2 hours3, as compared to other non-Skype platforms, providing advertisers an excellent opportunity for targeted, dynamic advertising.
The display advertisement will be designed to deliver the advertiser's message directly to Skype users, featuring the following:
| | 1) | | A large-sized advertisement, larger than a typical banner ad, appears on the Home tab as default when Skype for Windows starts. With one click on the ad, it expands to twice its original size. It will go back to the original size by clicking CLOSE. |
| | 2) | | Interested users will see richer, interactive content in the extended ad after clicking on the original. In addition, the ad can be linked to the advertiser's official website just like other web banners to offer users more details. |
| | 3) | | The number of advertisers will be limited to one per day to avoid the ad from being lost in competitors' ads. |
| | 4) | | Users who wish to hide the ad can do so by simply clicking on "Hide Ad." The ad can also be displayed back again. |
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1 | | For the three months ended 30 June 2011 |
| 2 | | As of March 2011 | |
| 3 | | Source : Nielsen NetView Japan May 2011, time spent per person per month |
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This is a first step in providing a Skype solution for advertisers in Japan, and Dentsu and Skype will continue to explore various advertisement options to better enable enterprises to market their brands.
*For advertising campaigns that are not multi-national or multi-regional in nature.
About Dentsu Inc.
Founded in 1901,
Dentsu Inc. has held the position of the world's largest single-brand agency for almost 40 years. Through its unique "Integrated Communication Design" approach, Dentsu offers multinational clients the most comprehensive range of advertising and marketing services in the industry. While continuing to pursue innovation in the digital arena, Dentsu is active in the production and marketing of sports, movies, anime, and other entertainment content on a global scale. The Dentsu Group has more than 6,000 clients and close to 20,000 employees worldwide.
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