Adobe Buys Behavioral Data Specialist

Software giant Adobe has acquired online audience behavior specialist Demdex, with the aim of boosting its ability to help advertisers and publishers deliver relevant digital experiences to their customers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

New York-based Demdex collects and manages non-personally identifiable behavioral and demographic data on behalf of its clients, and provides a platform for the management and enforcement of consumer privacy preferences.

The firm creates a 'behavioral data bank' of audience profiles with anonymous data captured from clients' web sites, purchased from third-party data sellers or exchanges, and generated from ad campaigns. This data can then be used for content management, multivariate testing and analytics.

Adobe says the online ad market is undergoing 'fundamental changes' as advertisers shift from buying content-driven placements to buying specific audiences, and publishers are increasingly seeking to provide audience data to match advertisers' requirements.

Through the acquisition, Adobe will enable publishers to use their data to create groups of anonymous audience segments that are aligned with the advertisers' audience requirements.

'With the addition of Demdex, the Adobe Online Marketing Suite will enable advertisers to be smarter with their advertising spend and publishers to leverage their audience data to generate more revenue,' states Brad Rencher, VP and GM of Adobe's Omniture Business Unit.

Demdex CEO and co-founder Randy Nicolau says that adding his firm's technology to Adobe's capabilities will provide a 'powerful combination' for advertisers and publishers.

Through the acquisition, Adobe is partnering with Evidon (formerly Better Advertising) and becomes part of Evidon's self-regulatory Open Data Partnership (ODP) program, which provides guidelines on interest-based advertising.

Web sites: www.adobe.com and www.demdex.com .