Microsoft Advertising, online advertising department of software juggernaut Microsoft is likely to enter the Romanian market within two years, if the market fastens its growth pace, Ernest Aberson, Regional Sales Director at Microsoft Advertising said in an interview for Wall-Street.ro.
Aberson, who held a speech at advertising festival Golden Drum led all media operations of Microsoft in Nordic countries, Belgium and Central Europe, Middle East and Africa, namely 46 markets. The company operates in Romania through Think Digital, Microsoft Advertising’s partner also for markets in Greece and Cyprus.
“Microsoft Advertising’s entry in Romania is a long-term move. It will not be carried out in the following six months”, Ernest Aberson pointed out, “long-term” meaning one-two years interval. “We always have a different outlook on a country. We try to determine the market’s potential, public and return of investments’ percentage in two-three years’ time. Should we invest now, or it is better to wait a little more? We conduct a market analysis every six months. As for Romania, there is still room for growth.”
With 20 million inhabitants, Romania is not yet an investment opportunity, compared to smaller markets, such as Hungary or Ireland where penetration rate of Internet exceeds 25% rate registered in Romania.
Microsoft Advertising’s entry on the domestic market is conditioned by internal premise of the company: every new employee must bring annual revenue to the company of 500,000 dollars. Three employees in Romania should produce 1.5 million dollars, Aberson stated, a turnover sevenfold bigger than 250,000 dollars business registered by Think Digital in Romania.
“At this point, Microsoft is a company that curbs number of employees and relies more on its partners. We intend on keeping the company as small as possible and as large as it is
