Flycast to Offer
Network Sites E-Commerce Store Fronts
By: Ted Kemp, Senior Editor
Flycast Communications plans to announce this week that it can
place shopping areas, including links to outside catalogers and
cyber-merchants, on sites in its ad network.
The San Francisco firm struck a deal that brings the Flycast
Network’s 1,200 sites and roughly 25 million monthly visitors
together with the 2,500 online merchants affiliated with
e-commerce infrastructure firm InfoSpace.com Inc., Redmond, WA.
The move widens Flycast’s foray into the e-commerce realm. In
August, it formed a division that lets marketers advertise on
e-mail publications. The step followed e-mail ventures by 24/7
Media Inc. and DoubleClick Inc. And just as it did then, Flycast
is differentiating itself from its New York-based rivals by
touting its shopping and product information program, Flycast
Valet, as the right solution for small and mid-sized Web sites.
Valet lets affiliates place search capability on their sites,
and online marketers will be able to buy keywords from Flycast so
any searches performed on the network will prompt their banners on
results pages. It also plans to sell buttons and other
sponsorships on e-commerce pages associated with specific product
categories.
InfoSpace is in the business of building e-commerce capability
for Web sites, and the deal with Flycast is not exclusive. But the
ad network’s executives stressed that InfoSpace has built a
customized shopping and product information program for Flycast
that will vary to match a particular site’s color and feel.
Both cyberfirms are tapping into the other’s vast online
partnerships, said Lyn Chitow Oakes, Flycast’s chief marketing
officer.
“In the same way it would take us a long time to develop the
merchant relationships [of InfoSpace], it would take them a long
time and resources to develop relationships with 1,200 sites,”
Oakes said.
She would not discuss terms of the pact between the two firms.
Flycast will arrange a revenue-sharing agreement with
participating affiliate sites “similar to the banner network,” she
said. Sites also will be able to earn sales commissions through
various merchants’ affiliate programs. Flycast began telling
network sites about the program last week.
Copyright 1998 by Mill Hollow
Corporation