Here is an excerpt from Yahoo's press release, which is available here.
Yahoo! Announces Agreement to Acquire BlueLithium
Important Next Step in Yahoo!'s Mission to Lead the Transformation of How Advertisers Connect To and Engage With Their Customers
SUNNYVALE, Calif. & SAN JOSE, Calif., Sep 04, 2007 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO), a leading global Internet company, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire BlueLithium, one of the largest and fastest growing online global ad networks that offers an array of direct response products and capabilities for advertisers and publishers. Under the terms of the agreement, Yahoo! will acquire BlueLithium for approximately $300 million in cash.
"BlueLithium's products, technology and team will be an integral part of our drive to build the industry's leading advertising and publishing network," said Jerry Yang, chief executive officer, Yahoo! Inc. "This acquisition will extend our ability to deliver powerful data analytics, advanced targeting and innovative media buying strategies to our customers, who are increasingly looking for these insights. By leveraging BlueLithium's complementary expertise and tools, we will be able to better address the needs of our performance-based display advertisers and enhance the value of our publishers' inventory."
Showing posts with label BlueLithium. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BlueLithium. Show all posts
Made to Measure
In its current issue, BusinessWeek explores the resasoning behind recent M&A activity in the online advertising sector and calls out BlueLithium as a company to watch.
Now marketers are spoiled. And as big-brand advertisers move online in greater force, they're demanding the ability to apply the same kind of targeting and measurability they get from paid search to all the other ads they run. "Everybody's got the mindset that everything should be measurable," says Erik Qualman, head of North America marketing for travel site Travelzoo Inc. (TZOO) One reason: While targeted ads online may cost about twice as much as untargeted ads, they can produce twice the return on investment. As a result, says David R. Verklin, chief executive of Carat Americas, the agency that buys online ads for the likes of Pfizer Inc. (PFE), "data and data analytics are the next big battleground in marketing."
And on the Internet. Ad networks such as Specific Media, Blue Lithium, and 24/7 Real Media (TFSM) appear to be on the short list for acquisition by major media and tech companies.
Now marketers are spoiled. And as big-brand advertisers move online in greater force, they're demanding the ability to apply the same kind of targeting and measurability they get from paid search to all the other ads they run. "Everybody's got the mindset that everything should be measurable," says Erik Qualman, head of North America marketing for travel site Travelzoo Inc. (TZOO) One reason: While targeted ads online may cost about twice as much as untargeted ads, they can produce twice the return on investment. As a result, says David R. Verklin, chief executive of Carat Americas, the agency that buys online ads for the likes of Pfizer Inc. (PFE), "data and data analytics are the next big battleground in marketing."
And on the Internet. Ad networks such as Specific Media, Blue Lithium, and 24/7 Real Media (TFSM) appear to be on the short list for acquisition by major media and tech companies.
Google/DoubleClick Backlash
According to The New York Post, Google's pending acquisition of DoubleClick has stirred up concern in the advertising world that Google will hold too much power. As as result, demand for BlueLithium's services has never been greater. Here's an excerpt from the article:
DoubleClick swears the information it collects about its customers ad campaigns can't be shared with Google, which already dominates the lucrative market for search advertising, without running afoul of its long-term contracts with clients.
But few in the ad business are buying it. Many believe Google will find ways to leverage DoubleClick's display data to increase its Internet ad clout.
Some suggest Google and DoubleClick set rules sooner rather than later to avoid the inevitable conflicts.
"They are going to have to write some rules of engagement on the type of information that can be shared," said Gurbaksh Chahal, chief executive of online ad company BlueLithium. "It will be interesting to see them."
DoubleClick swears the information it collects about its customers ad campaigns can't be shared with Google, which already dominates the lucrative market for search advertising, without running afoul of its long-term contracts with clients.
But few in the ad business are buying it. Many believe Google will find ways to leverage DoubleClick's display data to increase its Internet ad clout.
Some suggest Google and DoubleClick set rules sooner rather than later to avoid the inevitable conflicts.
"They are going to have to write some rules of engagement on the type of information that can be shared," said Gurbaksh Chahal, chief executive of online ad company BlueLithium. "It will be interesting to see them."
Myth Busters
In an article in Silicon Valley Watcher, BlueLithium "burst[s] the myth of contextual ads."
The conventional wisdom, as proposed by Google et al, is that placing advertising on a web page in its context gets the best results. Mortgage ads on mortgage pages, etc. In fact, Google recommends to its AdSense partners that Google ads should blend into the page, same colors etc.
BlueLithium, the online ad network, says that this isn't true when it comes to serving ads based on users' behavior. Its BL Labs research division found that out-of-context ads perform better ...
The conventional wisdom, as proposed by Google et al, is that placing advertising on a web page in its context gets the best results. Mortgage ads on mortgage pages, etc. In fact, Google recommends to its AdSense partners that Google ads should blend into the page, same colors etc.
BlueLithium, the online ad network, says that this isn't true when it comes to serving ads based on users' behavior. Its BL Labs research division found that out-of-context ads perform better ...
The Eyes Have It
In its October issue, Business 2.0 features BlueLithium in a story about technology's "next disruptors," or companies whose innovations are "game changers." That's BlueLithium CEO Gurbaksh Chahal in the picture above, picking eyeballs. (Eek.)
Great New Addition at BlueLithium
BlueLithium has appointed Scott Kauffman to the new position of President and COO.
"I'm excited to join BlueLithium, which is leading the way for a new generation of ad networks," said Mr. Kauffman. "Gurbaksh and his team have created the ability to turn user data from billions of ad serving interactions into higher ROI for advertisers and higher inventory value for publishers. I look forward to helping the company fully capitalize on this opportunity."
"I'm excited to join BlueLithium, which is leading the way for a new generation of ad networks," said Mr. Kauffman. "Gurbaksh and his team have created the ability to turn user data from billions of ad serving interactions into higher ROI for advertisers and higher inventory value for publishers. I look forward to helping the company fully capitalize on this opportunity."
Enter the Video Ad Network
BlueLithium has just launched the first video streaming ad network with behavioral targeting capabilities.
BlueLithium's AdRoll allows advertisers to target streaming ads to people who've already visited their Web site-as they travel across other sites in the BlueLithium network. For example, a person who visits the site of a major wireless phone provider and then goes to other sites in the BlueLithium network would see a targeted video ad from that wireless phone company, driving them back to the site for upselling or to complete a purchase. AdRoll is the first and only streaming video network that enables advertisers to do behavioral retargeting, which has been shown to improve click-through and conversion rates by over 300 percent.
BlueLithium's AdRoll allows advertisers to target streaming ads to people who've already visited their Web site-as they travel across other sites in the BlueLithium network. For example, a person who visits the site of a major wireless phone provider and then goes to other sites in the BlueLithium network would see a targeted video ad from that wireless phone company, driving them back to the site for upselling or to complete a purchase. AdRoll is the first and only streaming video network that enables advertisers to do behavioral retargeting, which has been shown to improve click-through and conversion rates by over 300 percent.
Brands Take to the Web
This from the front page of today's Wall Street Journal [subscription required] ...
After years of cautiously experimenting with Web marketing, powerhouse advertisers like General Mills Inc. and Kraft Foods Inc. are cranking up online spending and increasing the range of brands they promote on the Web. General Mills, maker of Cheerios and Betty Crocker baking mixes, expects to nearly double online-ad spending in the current fiscal year. Kraft, home of Jell-O and Kool-Aid, plans to double its number of online-ad campaigns in 2006 and to increase the number of brands it advertises on the Internet by at least half.
The shift underlines the Internet's threat to traditional media such as television and print magazines. It suggests that the boom in Internet advertising that has already fueled rapid revenue growth in recent years at Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and other companies could continue as still other groups of more traditional advertisers step up online spending.
The packaged-goods companies say their customers are spending more time online and using the Web in new ways, such as watching TV shows and other video. 'Our job is to invest in where consumers are engaging with media,' says John Galloway, vice president of sports, media and interactive marketing at PepsiCo Inc.'s Pepsi-Cola North America unit. At his division, online spending is expected to rise to between 5% and 10% of the overall ad budget in 2006, from 1% five years ago.
[Bigger Buy]
Providers of consumer packaged goods accounted for more than 11% of the $145 billion in U.S. ad spending in 2005, according to research firm TNS Media Intelligence. But they spent just 1.6% of their ad dollars online last year, on average, compared with an overall average of 5.8% of total ad spending for U.S. advertisers, says TNS. These advertisers have been the most challenging targets for Internet companies, says Wenda Harris Millard, chief sales officer at Yahoo. That company has overcome some of their resistance by wielding new tools to show that Web ads can increase consumer spending.
These developments bode well for BlueLithium, which has focused heavily on brand-building campaigns.
After years of cautiously experimenting with Web marketing, powerhouse advertisers like General Mills Inc. and Kraft Foods Inc. are cranking up online spending and increasing the range of brands they promote on the Web. General Mills, maker of Cheerios and Betty Crocker baking mixes, expects to nearly double online-ad spending in the current fiscal year. Kraft, home of Jell-O and Kool-Aid, plans to double its number of online-ad campaigns in 2006 and to increase the number of brands it advertises on the Internet by at least half.
The shift underlines the Internet's threat to traditional media such as television and print magazines. It suggests that the boom in Internet advertising that has already fueled rapid revenue growth in recent years at Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and other companies could continue as still other groups of more traditional advertisers step up online spending.
The packaged-goods companies say their customers are spending more time online and using the Web in new ways, such as watching TV shows and other video. 'Our job is to invest in where consumers are engaging with media,' says John Galloway, vice president of sports, media and interactive marketing at PepsiCo Inc.'s Pepsi-Cola North America unit. At his division, online spending is expected to rise to between 5% and 10% of the overall ad budget in 2006, from 1% five years ago.
[Bigger Buy]
Providers of consumer packaged goods accounted for more than 11% of the $145 billion in U.S. ad spending in 2005, according to research firm TNS Media Intelligence. But they spent just 1.6% of their ad dollars online last year, on average, compared with an overall average of 5.8% of total ad spending for U.S. advertisers, says TNS. These advertisers have been the most challenging targets for Internet companies, says Wenda Harris Millard, chief sales officer at Yahoo. That company has overcome some of their resistance by wielding new tools to show that Web ads can increase consumer spending.
These developments bode well for BlueLithium, which has focused heavily on brand-building campaigns.
Follow the Money
BlueLithium announced today that Bill Lonergan has joined the company as Chief Financial Officer.
The Network Effect
OK, I'm biased, but in this interview I think Gurbaksh Chahal does a great job explaining how BlueLithium differentiates itself from other advertising networks.
The main distinction between networks is whether they use a rep model or an arbitrage model. In the rep model, the network is simply selling inventory on behalf of the publisher, as an alternative to the publisher employing their own sales force. In the arbitrage model, the network is buying inventory from publishers, re-assembling it into packages that match the audience requirements of the advertiser, then using advanced targeting and optimization technologies to further enhance the performance of the inventory. This is BlueLithium's model. A lot has been written about the relative strengths of each model, but it boils down to this: rep networks provide the convenience of buying a fully-disclosed portfolio of sites with a single IO. Arbitrage networks integrate new capabilities such as behavioral targeting/remarketing, semantic analysis, on-the-fly optimization and audience-centric buys to deliver strong bottom-line performance over and above the name brand value of the sites they run on.
The main distinction between networks is whether they use a rep model or an arbitrage model. In the rep model, the network is simply selling inventory on behalf of the publisher, as an alternative to the publisher employing their own sales force. In the arbitrage model, the network is buying inventory from publishers, re-assembling it into packages that match the audience requirements of the advertiser, then using advanced targeting and optimization technologies to further enhance the performance of the inventory. This is BlueLithium's model. A lot has been written about the relative strengths of each model, but it boils down to this: rep networks provide the convenience of buying a fully-disclosed portfolio of sites with a single IO. Arbitrage networks integrate new capabilities such as behavioral targeting/remarketing, semantic analysis, on-the-fly optimization and audience-centric buys to deliver strong bottom-line performance over and above the name brand value of the sites they run on.
Dumb Money
I just read that Sprint has paid the NFL a record $12 million to sponsor this year's halftime show. The Rolling Stones are performing. Did Sprint pay for their services, as well? Memo to Sprint: fire your VP of Marketing. Spend your money on BlueLithium, instead. Like so many other major brands, you'll find it's a much better use of your money. (By the way, I'd be remiss if I didn't give a shout-out to Ford, which paid $40 million to put its name on Lions Stadium. I'm sure America will appreciate your largesse in the wake of your recent announcement to lay off 30,000 workers and close 14 plants in North America.)
BlueLithium Turns It On at AlwaysOn
BlueLithium CEO Gurbaksh Chahal scored big at last week's AlwaysOn conference.
BlueLithium Honored
AlwaysOn has named BlueLithium as one of its AO 100 Top Private Company Award Winners.
Rx for Online Adverting - BlueLithium
BlueLithium has received a great deal of press attention around its recent funding announcement. We are pleased to be working with our partner 3i on this very exciting deal.
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