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Here is the first in our “Online Advertising 2008 - Thoughts & Trends from the Top” where I had a chance to chat with Duke McKenzie, Managing Partner at Uptrend Media.

Any highlights for Uptrend Media in 2007 that really shaped your business?

DM: Two trends that really shaped our business in 2007.

The first trend was the de-portalization of the web. The continued rise of consumers feeling increasingly comfortable with the web, leveraging search engines vs. the spoon feeding of content on the portals - has lead to consumers spending more and more time on new/targeted/niche web properties.

As a results advertisers have had to turn to premium branded networks such as UpTrend to reach consumers in more in-depth and diverse way. While at the same time maintaining control over the environments that brands are associated with.

The need to add interesting targeted properties to media plans has really drove our business in 2007. We see this trend continuing in 2008 & 2009.

The second trend is the extraordinary rise of casual gaming entertainment. You can see this in the offline world where people of all ages made the Nintendo WII a phenomenon. We are seeing that same trend in the online world where some our strongest performing properties that reach younger users, females, and males are in the causal gaming category.

We saw the start of this in 2007 and I believe that in 2008 / 2009 casual gaming properties (such as the one we represent Miniclip.com) will become a must buy on most plans.

Will online advertising continue to grow in 2008?

DM: I think that 2008 is going to be another water shed moment for online advertising in Canada where many major advertisers are going to shift significant amounts of dollars the medium. We think that the industry will grow by 25% - 35% in 2008.

What can we expect from Uptrend Media in 2008?

We are excited about 2008. We we expect to grow at an even faster pace this year, triple digit growth - exponentially. We are in a unique position since we are one of the only independent online networks in the country in our space. I believe that this allows us to serve both our advertising and publishing partners well. Since we are able offer unbiased advise and programs.

We are also looking into international expansion.

Categories: Features