Shareholders,
„Outpace the friend you’re diving with and do not race the sharks” was Wirtualna Polska Holding’s simple recipe for success on a stagnating online advertising market, in which 80% growth was being consumed by two foreign platforms.
Nevertheless, elbowing your way among local competitors has its limitations. It becomes futile when it reaches the limes of their attractiveness. It’s one thing to defeat; to eradicate is something else entirely. One is the loneliest number.
Internet does not allow for safe simple business models, even when wrapped in iconic brands. No portal, messenger service, or social network is a buoyant cork in the salty waters of the Internet. Even sharks, by nature devoid of a swim bladder, fall to the bottom once they stop swimming.
Last year our goal was to reach the advertising effectiveness previously achievable only by the global players. Our crying shame was the fact we paid 22% commission to Google on Domodi ads displayed on our very own WP Media inventory. 2019 saw us improve advertising effectiveness for the fashion industry over ten-fold, almost levelling up with the world leaders. And we still haven’t left the lab. It’s a vital project aimed at increasing return on add spend for all our clients across industries. We are counting on it producing effects comparable to our implementation of the new ad visibility standard in Poland two years ago.
Google Display Network revenue in Poland is estimated at PLN 336 million. One third of it, after deduction of the 22% commission, goes to, and is displayed on Wirtualna Polska’s inventory. Of course, that’s where we can expand. It is a major challenge, as inventory supply is just one side of the equation. Demand is just as important. We will deliver value to shareholders by expanding our playing field to those market segments that were unavailable to us, as self-serve tools are necessary to handle those segments. Wirtualna Polska says ‘no’ to clients whose campaign budget is below PLN 5,000, and this has to change. The only thing we are going to say from now on is a technological prayer before our shared media & e-commerce meals.
Our objective is to build an advertising system and feed it with knowledge allowing us to achieve a solid advantage over global sharks in advertising effectiveness for e-commerce clients. We continue to use our advantage of having both media and e-commerce under one ownership roof.
We do not pronounce 2020 the year of shark hunting. Instead, we’ll spend this year constantly ripping scale by scale off the global predators.
Yours sincerely,
Jacek Świderski
CEO