Bebo severs ties with eType for in-house ad sales option

Previously, eType handled all sales, with Bebo's vice-president of
business development and sales, Jim Scheinman, overseeing the
operation.

Charkin said he had now hired a sales team of four and three account
management staff, and was hiring a trafficking team and a creative
designer. Wendy Blacksin, formerly of Ask Jeeves, is heading up the
account management team.

"We will be going round all the major agency groups in the next few
months, presenting to them and telling them what is possible," Charkin
said.

Bebo offers normal advertising formats that can be controlled, using
behavioural targeting, demographic targeting and contextual
targeting.

It also offers Bebo Engagement Marketing, where advertisers can get
involved in content, including creating their own profile or offering
their branding as a "skin" for e-mails and profiles.

Last month, Media Week revealed that eType had lost the account to
represent sales for The Independent, when the newspaper moved to rival
AdLink (page 15, 30 January).

Bebo had the second highest audience reach for a social networking site
in December last year, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. It had a unique
audience of 2.7 million for the month, with 33% of this audience under
the age of 18. In contrast, the top social networking site, MySpace, had
a unique audience of 5.3 million, 17% of which was under 18 in the same
month.

This year, Bebo hired Joanna Shields, Google's EMEA managing director of
strategic partnerships, as its international president. She reports into
Bebo co-founder and chief executive Michael Birch.

Shields, who works out of the company's London office, is responsible
for international expansion.