Newscorp plans Japan online ad entry

No longer content sitting in the sidelines while Japan’s online ad market grows past $6 billion a year, Newscorp plans to enter the Japanese online ad market in a big way. The initial plan for the New York-based media company is to purchase ad space from Web-site operators, then find marketers to fill the space and distribute the ads. With the goal of increasing global online ad revenue to 100 billion yen over five years, Newscorp will need to make some targeted acquisitions soon. With the ad market in Japan already reaching saturation, I think snapping up a few floundering mobile and web affiliate networks might help build the foundations of a lucrative ad business. Or Newscorp could approach Yahoo Japan directly and tender an offer for it’s share of the Valuecommerce network.  Owning a property like Valuecommerce with its large inventory of ad slots can’t be a bad thing.