Pay-for-performance marketing firm Datran Media is expected today to announce it has made a significant investment into Asian online and e-mail advertising company MadeForChina.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. However, executives at the companies believe the partnership will help them better serve large multinational advertisers.
The deal also gives Datran a toehold in one of the world’s fastest growing markets.
About 137 million people—10.4% of China’s population—are online, according to Internet World Stats. Also, the number of Internet users in China has risen 508% since 2000, according to the market statistics Web site.
Founded in 1997, MadeForChina is old by e-mail marketing standards. Its clients include L’Oreal, Ford, United Airlines and China Mobile.
“MadeForChina is older than most of the companies in the U.S.,” said Sean O’Neal, chief revenue officer for Datran. “E-mail [marketing] is still in its infancy in Asia, but growing very rapidly.”
O’Neal added that the partnership will give Datran’s U.S.-based advertisers access to the Asian market while giving MadeForChina’s Asian clients access to the U.S. market.
He said marketers are increasingly taking note of the likelihood of an e-mail marketing boom on its way in China similar to recent growth in Europe and the U.S. “There is enough demand now both on the consumer side and on the marketers’ side … that companies like MadeForChina are having explosive success,” he said.
According to copy on MadeForChina’s Web site, the company accounts for 25% of all permission-based commercial e-mail in China.
