Last year, when Internet giants like Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft shelled out cash for digital advertising companies, WPP got in on the fun too. Sorrell opened his wallet to the tune of about $649 million to secure 24/7 Real Media.

In September of last year, Sorrell’s interest in Spot Runner, where WPP already owns a 3 percent stake, surfaced in rumors at the New York Post. Those rumors returned, same same subject, in a new Post report.

Spot Runner looks like a favorite due to WPP already having a piece of the company. If acquired, Spot Runner opens cable advertising to small businesses in a way Google TV has been doing in its testing.

As AdRants noted, ex-Ogilvy executive Andy Berndt, now with Google, told marketers “Google is not starting an ad agency.” Google made similar noises about mobile phones before Android emerged too.

The Post also suggested JumpTap and VideoEgg as possible morsels for WPP to consume. But instead of considering WPP as a competitor, were Google to form an advertising agency, what if they partnered with Google?

We don’t think that’s likely, as both Google and WPP prefer to play with house money. A partnership makes for intriguing ideas, with WPP’s ad agency experience coupled with Google’s dominance in search and online advertising.

Sorrell’s clients may end up on Google and DoubleClick anyway, should that deal receive EU approval, so why not make it easier for multi-million dollar big brand accounts to reach people through all of the outlets WPP and Google could reach?

After all, Berndt’s old Ogilvy firm is part of WPP.

]]> http://www.webpronews.com/a-modest-proposal-wpp-and-google-2008-01/feed 0 http://www.webpronews.com/24-7-real-media-goes-to-wpp-2007-05 http://www.webpronews.com/24-7-real-media-goes-to-wpp-2007-05#comments Thu, 17 May 2007 22:47:32 +0000 WebProNews Staff http://www.webpronews.com/?p=37778 Martin Sorrell’s marketing powerhouse WPP Group has snared the next best ad serving prize after DoubleClick, by paying about $649 million for 24/7 Real Media.

Microsoft had been rumored to be in the running for 24/7 Real Media, but the news today out of WPP put that tall tale to rest. The $11.75 per share WPP will pay to acquire 24/7 works out to some $649 million.

Google’s deal to pick up DoubleClick from its private equity ownership will work out to $3.1 billion in comparison. For a little over a fifth of that price, Sorrell and WPP are now major online ad serving players on the Internet.

“Online advertising will exceed $33 billion in 2007 or more than 8% of global advertising spend, based on GroupM estimates. This is expected to continue to grow strongly in the future, particularly as traditional media increasingly embraces and develops digital channels,” WPP said in a statement.

Publishing 2.0 blogger Scott Karp said WPP made the 24/7 deal to compete with Google and Yahoo. Their acquisitions of DoubleClick and Right Media, respectively, demonstrate a “disruption of the ad agency business,” according to Karp.