• by Amy Corr , Staff Writer, June 13, 2002

Founded as a CPC network by Brian Coryat in 1998, ValueClick began offering CPA and CPL pricing models last year and incorporating CPM pricing into the mix this year. ValueClick is a predominantly performance-based network, but offers a full suite of pricing models to its clients. It presently reps 30,000 websites, serves 5.5 billion impressions monthly and has a reach of 1 in 3 households in the United States, Japan, and the UK.

Most of ValueClick’s websites are small and medium-sized sites, but according to John Ardis, VP of direct marketing and business development, ValueClick’s focus is on the quality and not the size of the website. “ValueClick’s goal is to offer the highest profile properties and offer them on a lower priced basis.” Clients currently advertising on the ValueClick Network include British Airways, Honda, Verizon, Discover, and General Mills.

ValueClick has an array of products, which facilitate the process or both advertisers and publishers. In late 2000, ValueClick acquired ClickAgents, a strictly CPC network that alone serves 1.5 billion impressions monthly. ClickAgents concentrates more on specialized buys than ValueClick does, but both networks have mirrored categories and targeting structures. ValueClick also acquired onResponse.com, an affiliate marketing firm specializing in CPA and CPL campaigns. And for co-registration, ValueClick acquired Zmedia and developed Ultra-Leads, which is a co-registration tool that users can see on websites in ValueClick’s network. Users can sign up to receive additional information about a specific product/site and this information is then captured and delivered to advertisers in real time.

Two of ValueClick’s most recent alliances have been with a streaming media company and an online marketing company. ValueClick inked a nonexclusive agreement with EyeWonder, which provides streaming audio and video to various Internet devices. ValueClick will support streaming media throughout its entire network. ValueClick also merged with Mediaplex, a company that brings ad serving technology and CRM email delivery to the table.

Ardis says that ValueClick has concentrated on the three P’s: “Products (banners, ad-serving technology, email products…), pricing (CPM, CPC, CPL and CPA), and performance (measurements, e-trax proprietary technology…).” One more “P” can be added to this list: He says he is “Pleased” with ValueClick’s current standing in the arena of online ad networks