Telstra merges digital advertising units

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 14 June 2011 17:26

IT Industry - Strategy

After struggling to make the transition from the world of print to online advertising, Sensis is to lose its digital media arm to parent Telstra where it will be merged with BigPond Advertising and Telstra Classifieds to forma new integrated digital advertising business.

Telstra claims that "With the largest online and mobile audience in Australia, reaching more than 9.3 million consumers online and 10.5 million mobile customers each month, the new business is set to become a powerhouse in the digital advertising industry in Australia."

The new business will be led by the present head of Telstra Classifieds, Michael Padden, and will sit under the Media Application and User Experience (MAX) group. Mark Shaw, general manager of Sensis Digital Media, "will be working closely with Michael to integrate and grow the new business," Telstra said. Telstra Classifieds is largely the former Trading Post business. When bought it became part of Sensis but Telstra later closed the print publication and moved the business from Sensis to Telstra.

According to Padden: "We're aligning the teams from across Sensis and Telstra that are responsible for creating the digital advertising content - with those responsible for selling it. It makes perfect sense and the new business is going to provide even more innovative and effective ways for advertisers to reach their audience."

Shaw added, "We're creating a strong platform for growth and innovation across online, mobile and IPTV. This is an exciting move which will result in a consolidated leadership position in the digital media industry."

Sensis launched its digital advertising arm under the MediaSmart brand in 2002, before rebranding to Sensis Digital Media in 2010. Since then it has struggled to grow despite the general boom in online advertising.

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