U.S. Sites Starting To Realize There Are Ad Dollars Overseas

With the U.S. ad market sputtering, domestic web publishers are discovering that there’s a big world out there. But for those who don’t have established ad sales teams in other countries, making money outside the U.S., especially in the emerging markets that have seen so much ad growth, will be difficult and slow-going. Amar Goel, CEO of India-based ad net Komli, tells WSJ that advertisers there are still enthralled with TV and newspapers, and so internet ads are considered a distant third and are not yet convinced by targeted web ads — hence ZenithOptimedia’s prediction that India will attract only $111 million in online ads by the end of 2008. Zenith anticipates internet ads in the U.S. to hit $19.8 billion year, a 23 percent gain over 2007′s $16.1 billion.

As they wait for rest of the globe catches up, publishers like fashion and entertainment ad net Glam Media and ad net operators AOL’s (NYSE: TWX) Platform-A have been expanding their U.K. and European focus lately (last month, Glam bought London-based online ad sales rep firm firm Monetise). Both Facebook, with 73 percent of its 124 million worldwide uniques are outside the U.S., and MySpace, which has reported that 30 percent of its 117 million total membership is from non-domestic registrants, have been ramping up their overseas ad efforts. MySpace ultimately hopes to get 50 percent of its revenues from non-U.S. markets. AOL’s Bebo is also expanding.

So be patient, Australians; soon you will be seeing ads for local vegemite retailers replacing those irrelevant Verizon (NYSE: VZ) FiOS ads — which is only available in the U.S. — that appear on your version of CNET.com.