AdRelevance Acquired by Netratings

Web research giant Netratings has just increased its cyber-clout by purchasing AdRelevance, the online advertising spend monitoring business of competitor Jupiter Media Metrix. It is believed that the acquisition is worth USD8.5 million.

The acquisition is likely to be based on the immediate transfer of all AdRelevance's assets to its new owner, including all the company's existing services, its employees, historical data, and its established client base of over 150 blue-chip customers. At the same time, the company's intellectual property will also move home, including all its patent applications, trademarks and copyrights.

AdRelevance was originally founded in 1998 in Seattle Washington, USA and started out life by delivering online ad expenditure data, focussing on automated retrieval and delivery. The intelligence proved handy for knowing where, when and how much competitors and potential clients were advertising on the Internet.

Following the acquisition, business as usual will mean that the former AdRelevance products will be sold alongside those of Nielsen//NetRatings. The new owner expects to enjoy significant marketing and research leverage in consequence, as well as benefiting from some degree of operational cost-savings. Personnel changes are believed to have been kept to the bare minimum. Alterations have been confined to the move of Will Hodgman, the former President of the Jupiter Media Metrix Measurement Group, into the NetRatings management team. He will report directly to William Pulver, chief executive officer, NetRatings.

Commenting on the news, William Pulver says, 'By acquiring the AdRelevance product line, NetRatings has further strengthened its position as the global standard in Internet media and market research.'

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

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