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DoubleClick thinks locally
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July 16, 1998: 8:25 a.m. ET
CEO says Internet advertising company will target local online ads
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - A day after his company said its second-quarter revenue had nearly tripled, DoubleClick Inc. Chief Executive Kevin O'Connor told CNNfn Thursday the company is banking on local Internet advertising to bring in even more money.
DoubleClick has made its mark by providing advertising solutions for the Internet. Tuesday, DoubleClick launched DoubleClick Local, which is designed to enable advertisers to target local Web surfers on leading Internet sites.
"In the traditional advertising area, local advertisers constitute about half the market. It's about a $70 billion industry in the traditional advertising market," O'Connor said.
"Jupiter Communications predicts local Internet advertising will reach $1.5 billion by 2002. We think this is going to be the emerging year and over the next five to 10 years, it's going to be a very significant part of our revenues."
O'Connor said DoubleClick Local uses the company's targeting software, which allows it to track a Web-site visitor's location.
"We're able to map 15 million users in the United States," O'Connor said. [182K WAV] or [182K AIFF]
Although O'Connor said a number of local advertising firms have expressed interest, he was quick to point out that it will take a while before local online advertising takes off.
"It's very much where national [Internet] ads were two years ago," he said. "It's going to take two to three years to develop."
That could mean more time before DoubleClick begins making money. Despite its increasing revenues, DoubleClick, like many other Internet-related companies, has yet to turn a profit. Wednesday, DoubleClick reported a second-quarter loss of 28 cents a share. O'Connor said, however, the company is on track.
"The important thing is that we hit analysts' expectations," he said.
DoubleClick has seen its shares gain more than three times its value since going public in February, though it has dropped more than 20 points since peaking at 75 two weeks ago.
(Click here to see a chart of DoubleClick's year-to-date stock activity)
DoubleClick (DCLK) shares closed at 53-1/8, up 5/16 in the regular Wednesday session on the Nasdaq before dropping to 52 in after-hours trading. 
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DoubleClick
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