On Tuesday, ValueClick announced the acquisition of Dotomi, an online personalized ad retargeting firm, for an impressive $295 million. Read more.
AdExchanger.com reached out to several executives in the online ad ecosystem for their thoughts on the deal.
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- Michael Katz, CEO, interclick
- Layton Han, CEO Adara Media
- Mike Sprouse, CMO, Epic Media Group
- Alan Pearlstein, CEO, Cross Pixel Media
Michael Katz, CEO, interclick
“In all honesty, I think this acquisition (along with Greystripe) shows that VCLK is committed to being competitive in an evolving landscape. Dotomi has several deep integrations with major retailers directly which now gives VCLK hooks into those marketers, minimizing their dependency on agencies in a time when that’s critical if they want their ad network business to thrive. I think the technology is an upgrade but I think this is really about the marketer relationships, not to mention it puts them in a great position for a big Q4.”
Layton Han, CEO Adara Media
“Value Click has a history of buying technologies that achieve revenue scale which they can integrate into their business. A good example of this would be their Fastclick acquisition. In general, ValueClick would rather “buy” then “build” technology and obviously they see a great opportunity in re-targeting and data business.”
“We think this signifies a continuing trend that many people have been predicting, which is overall industry consolidation. The point that many industry experts and followers have made for years is that the digital ad stack is extremely complex with lots of players in the mix, and that simplification in the form of consolidation would be inevitable. That this acquisition comes after other similar acquisitions in the last 18 months speaks to this trend and we expect similar activity to continue as the industry continues to evolve.”
Alan Pearlstein, CEO, Cross Pixel Media
“This is another acquisition that is great for our industry. It validates data-driven marketing, and also validates buying relationships much like Google’s purchase of AdMeld did. There is ample retargeting technology out there and it isn’t terribly complicated to build. Obviously, ValueClick could have done that much as Google could have. So, they are buying the entrenched relationships with these acquisitions. Here’s why I think it’s great for our industry though – because it demonstrates that the way to work toward the most lucrative exit is to build a sustainable business that solves problems/ads value for actual clients, and not just to create a concept or cool technology. For all those people who claim that too many of the companies that were launched in this new tech boom really have nothing to offer, I say that – as in any business cycle – those companies that add value and build a real, sustainable business are the ones that will provide the best exits for their founders and investors.”
By John Ebbert
