• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, October 13, 2003

Just as the field of online advertising networks looked to be contracting, steps being announced today could drive it back into expansion mode. Ironically, the source of those expansion plans, new Fastclick president-CFO Kurt Johnson, was a key player in the development of ValueClick, a leading ad network that has been consolidating the industry.

As CFO of ValueClick from 1999 to 2002, Johnson led the network through its initial public offering, which ultimately put it in a position to acquire a variety of public and private leaders in the online field, including OnResponse, MediaPlex and BeFree. Last week, ValueClick continued its consolidation play, acquiring Commission Junction, a leading affiliate marketing company and a competitor of BeFree's.

Johnson, who left ValueClick over a year ago, tells MediaDailyNews he plans to follow that playbook at Fastclick, one of the fastest growing online ad networks and a newcomer to the ad serving marketplace. While small by comparison to publicly traded online ad networks like ValueClick and 24/7 Real Media, Johnson says that can be changed with the help of "external capital," including a potential public offering.

In fact, he says Fastclick already is beating its peers by one important financial metric: the amount of revenues it derives per employee, which he says is "probably two to six times greater" than its public company peers.

Johnson should know. Besides being intimate with ValueClick's results, he was part of a team that evaluated Fastclick as a possible ValueClick acquisition before leaving ValueClick. Johnson said he kept in touch with Fastclick's management team and monitored the company's progress before opting to come on board.

"They have developed an extremely creative business model by developing best- in-class technology. As a result, they have been able to develop business to a much faster degree and retain business to a much faster degree than their peers," says Johnson.

Johnson would not disclose Fastclick's exact revenue-to-employee ratio, but he did note that Fastclick currently has about 30 employees.

"My objectives for the company is to triple the size of the company in revenues and maintain the kind of profitability the company now experiences," says Johnson.

Fastclick currently reaches about 62 million unique users through its network and is utilized mainly by direct marketers, though it is beginning to make headway with online brand marketers.