Online giants back trial for Delta ad booking system

by Andrew McCormick , Media Week 08-Apr-08, 08:20

LONDON - Online giants AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo have backed a trial of MediaTel's fledgling online ad booking system, Delta.

Bauer Advertising and Guardian Media Group have signed up, as well as Omnicom media agencies OMD, Manning Gottlieb OMD and PHD. Independent digital agency Profero will also be involved in the trial, which starts this week.

Delta is a new online booking system for online ad space vying with several new ad trading ventures to secure backing from the industry by promising to reduce the admin burden of digital media.

MediaTel, which runs the UK's main radio ad booking system, Jet, plans to launch a "phase one" version of Delta in June, after which the firm will develop technology to link to other industry systems.

Derek Jones, managing director of MediaTel, said: "It's a functional trial - they'll send briefs and orders through the system. It's about making it work for those involved."

Donovan Data Systems and IMD are two of the rival firms developing systems they hope will gain market dominance in the UK. Having endorsed MediaTel as the main system for online, the Internet Advertising Bureau has since backtracked after a row with the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising.

Alex Marks, UK head of marketing at Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions, said its strategy is to work with any viable platform. He added: "This trial won't preclude us from working with anyone else. The hope is the three best will emerge."