Gasp! European Ad Tech Player Acquired! Who would have thought it?
Yes, the big story around these parts this week was the acquisition of Adjug by IgnitionOne (Dentsu was the more "glamorous" suitor in the grown-up media). Adjug had been on the market for some time, and little detail of the acquisition have been disclosed. But we all salute Michael and Satish who have been building the Adjug business for many years. The new IgnitionOne deal will supercharge the Agjug proposition, giving them a multi-channel platform to sell into the European market. I would hazard to say that this wouldn't have even registered on the radar of most US observers, but to us Europeans this was a significant announcement. While the Admelds and Dotomis exit for huge multiples and hog the headlines of the trade media, Europe continues to be starved of big exits in ad tech. Having covered the ad tech beat for three long years there are several critical reasons that I won't go into here, as this deserves a full-day discussion on its own (you will be hearing about this very soon). But suffice to say we should be thinking bigger and more aggressive than our American counterparts as we are starting from a disadvantaged position. I hope to get some discussion going around this topic over the coming weeks.
Ybrant Merges With LGS Global As It Looks To Build On Is Mobile Ad Business
Ybrant has been on the acquisition war path over the last couple of years, having bought six companies. They have made the transition from vanilla ad net to global marketing solutions behemoth. The recent merger with LGS Global, a mobile technology specialist, indicates its intent to dominate the fast growing mobile space. LGS Global has expertise in mobile app building, and it looks likely that Ybrant will use this resource to build brand-driven apps for clients - or possibly even build niche applications to drive traffic. Interesting move. And a great example of a progressive ad net thinking beyond just aggregation.
... And Another Bit Of Mobile Tech News This Week
There was also another bit of mobile M&A news this week: Google bought Motorola for $12 billion in CASH. Google demonstrated why very few can touch it this week when it dipped into its $34 billion dollar cash pile to b uy a bunch of patents - sorry Motorola. There's be soooo much written about the deal this week - so I will not attempt to second guess the big G here. Nah I will. I'm going to go with the advertising-angle and say it was all about ads, the mobile space and, dare I say it, IPTV. Let's be honest here: everything Google does revolves around selling ads. It's in its DNA. And on that note...
DoubleClick Display Benchmarks: Serious Treasure Trove Of Data
When Google does something, it does it so well. I've been trawling through the DoubleClick Benchmarks site for the past couple of days, and I have immersed myself in display performance data. For anyone in the industry this is a must read. From reports to raw data, you will be getting a great overview on the entire display eco-system. The top-level observations of the latest benchmarking includes:
- The use of rich media ad formats have doubled
- Response and engagement rates have been holding steady since 2009 - click-through rates are hovering at around 0.09%.
- Bigger ad units are generating greater response
You can get the top-level report here. Or go granular here.
Stop Dissing The Ad Network. We Still Loves You!
Before Jeff Hirsch announced his departure from AudienceScience he penned a great article on the value of the ad network for the Imedia blog. In his piece Hirsch highlights some inconvenient truths about the market: that billions of dollars of spend still flow through the ad network layer every year in the US and globally. Ad nets still offer value by aggregating supply from everywhere and layering it with prop data and tech to deliver for clients. He makes a good point when he says that the ad net model is being validated by the rise of agency trading desks, which are, according to Hirsch, in effect ad networks themselves. He doesn't stop there, as he goes on to say that those masquerading as DSPs, SSPs and ad trading desks are also ad networks. Maybe we need a new debate: why is it so odious in the current commercial environment to be an ad net? Valuations? Exits? Something to ponder about on this Friday morning.