Jabbar Internet Group has acquired the region's largest advertising network, ikoo, a company statement said on Tuesday. Since its launch in 2005, ikoo, E-Marketing then, evolved to become the largest online advertising network in the Arab world, combining more than 120 websites from across the region, a network that attracts more than 35 million unique visitors, and serving more than 1.4 billion monthly pageviews. ikoo has been establishing premium partnerships with the region's leading portals and top publishers, enabling advertisers to reach their audience through themed sub-networks like sports, women, news, social media, automotive, business, and many more. In addition, ikoo has positioned itself as an online advertising hub using the latest technologies in online campaign management from DoubleClick, a world-class advertising platform. Khaled Jabasini, founder and former CEO of ikoo, said ikoo will maintain its current position and will grow even further under the new management. “This is a big step for ikoo as it recognizes the success the company has achieved over the past few years.” The new CEO Isam Bayazidi said ikoo will focus on expanding its network to embrace more publishers, and will work closely with advertisers and agencies on developing successful campaigns based on their needs. “When it comes to online advertising, ikoo is by far the largest advertising space on the internet in the Arab world, the company succeeded in building an audience of millions of consumers from all walks of life,” he added. Bayazidi also announced the merger of Kalimat, a contextual advertising platform, with ikoo. “This would enable advertisers to automatically place and control their text advertising placement within the ikoo network.” Samih Toukan, CEO of Jabbar, said the “acquisition comes as a natural move for our group, online advertising is a growing sector in the Middle East and ikoo has succeeded to build the largest ad network in the region.
