Connect Ads' Announces Strategic Alliance with 'facebook

Leading digital advertising company becomes social networking portal's official representation partner for the MENA region

Dubai, February 24, 2010 - Connect Ads, the region's leading digital advertising company, announced a strategic alliance with Facebook, making it the official representation partner for the world's leading social networking portal in the MENA region.

Under the partnership, Connect Ads will offer direct access to the extensive range of advertising products available through the social networking site, benefiting both clients and advertising agencies.

Commenting on the alliance, Karim Beshara, Chief Executive Officer of LINKdotNET said: "Connect Ads successfully managed to earn the confidence of Facebook to become its representation partner in MENA. This new representation is aligned with our company's strategy to partner with the most visited portals globally, and to be responsible for all their digital advertising locally."

According to recent statistics published by Business Monitor International, the UAE's internet penetration has reached 54.3 percent with the total number of internet users expected to reach 3.77 million by 2013. Given that Facebook has achieved great exposure in the Arab region with 9.7 million subscribers, including an average of 1,205,700 users in the United Arab Emirates and almost 2.4 million in Egypt this reflects the significance of this partnership.

"This latest addition to our solutions will facilitate the purchase of prime Ad solutions on one of the world's most popular websites, accessed by all demographics globally and especially the Middle East which represents a strategic market," said Mohamed El Mehairy, Managing Director, Connect Ads.

"MENA is an important region for us. We chose to work with Connect Ads because of its strong track record in the region. Connect Ads has excellent experience in developing successful online campaigns. Their presence in the market means they can work directly with local companies to help them connect with their customers on Facebook," said Blake Chandlee, Facebook's Vice President and Commercial Director for EMEA region.

Connect Ads is the exclusive media agent for some of the region's most successful and popular portals, namely MSN Arabia, MSN Maghreb, ArabFinance.com, Masrawy.com, Otlob.com, Yallabina.com, Mazika.com, CareerMidEast.com, YallaKora.com, Barca Arabia, El3ab.com and Shofha.com. The company falls under the LINKdotNET umbrella, the largest Microsoft certified team, fully owned by Orascom Telecom Holding. LINKdotNET represents the largest Internet Solutions Provider in the region, owning one of the biggest internet backbone bandwidths in the Egyptian market.

For enquires about purchasing ad space on Facebook please visit www.connectads.com

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