AdLink has beaten competition from Ad 2-one and eType to win back the Independent's online advertising account.

AdLink held the account from 2001, but were replaced in September 2005 by eType.

AdLink's managing director, Andy Mitchell, said the new agreement with independent.co.uk includes email, search and affiliate performance marketing, as well as sponsorship and display advertising on the site.

Mr Mitchell said: "Creating revenue from digital media is not a one-dimensional game. There's a degree of complexity there, so that even the most successful publisher cannot do everything in-house."

The Independent is one of only a few national UK newspapers to outsource the bulk of its online advertising. Mr Mitchell said it is difficult for publishers, as well as agencies, to retain skilled online advertising staff in-house.

He said that AdLink's appointment of the former Google UK advertising managing director, Kate Burns, and the former Commission Junction chief operating officer, Nicky Iapino, demonstrated the company's expertise in online, and had contributed to its winning the account.

Mr Mitchell said that since the appointment of Bill Swanson as general manager of independent.co.uk, there had been a step change in how the company's digital services are integrated with the rest of the business.

AdLINK also provides digital advertising services for AutoTrader, Time Out and MTV/Disney Europe.

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