Given the recent IPO and M&A frenzy, it should come as no surprise that some ad-tech players saw strong revenue growth in 2012, as reported today in the Inc. 500/5000 list.
But even keen observers might be impressed by the surges at some data-management providers, in particular DataXu (ranked No. 5 among the entire list with -- hold your breath -- 21,337% revenue gains since 2009) and Bluekai (9,245% revenue growth during the same period).
Marketplace operators and video ad tech, naturally, have also shown significant gains over the past three years -- the period Inc. uses for comparison. That said, companies like Videology, which can identify itself in both programmatic and marketplace operator positions, most likely saw its triple-digit revenue gains thanks to its acquisition activity, especially in the past year.
The Inc. magazine 500/5000 list of growing ad-tech companies follows the jump, showing 2012 revenues both as a raw figure and on a per-headcount basis.
- DataXu - $87 million (220 employees = $395,455 per employee)
- BlueKai - $26.8 million (107 employees = $250,467 per employee)
- Rocket Fuel - $106 million (289 employees = $366,782 per employee)
- Videology - $137.5 million (321 employees = $428,349 per employee)
- Ad-Juster - $2.8 million (18 employees = $155,556 per employee)
- Martini Media - $17.2 million (50 employees = $344,000 per employee)
- Extreme Reach - $41.5 million (203 employees = $204,433 per employee)
- ReTargeter - $6.5 million (35 employees = $185,714 per employee)
- Trada - $12.6 million (75 employees = $168,000 per employee)
- Sailthru - $8.1 million (79 employees = $102,532 per employee)
- YellowHammer - $18 million (27 employees = $666,667 per employee)
- AdRoll - $34.1 million (165 employees = $206,667 per employee)
- TubeMogul - $53.4 million (125 employees = $427,200 per employee)
- LiveIntent - $6.9 million (42 employees = $164,286 per employee)
It seems like the appropriate comparison for dataxu would be mediamath or app nexus - on that basis, i'm not sure the revenue level they've attained is surprising.
It seems like the blue kai data is more a testament to just how low their revenues were during the industry's hype/infatuation period with data providers, and as that proved unsustainable, they've finally started to figure out a business model that may work.