Today, social analytics company and ad network 33across announced the acquisition of Tynt, a sell-side analytics tools company that aggregates data to tell publishers about their audience, protect their content and even leverage search engine optimization to drive traffic. Read the release.
In addition to the new sell-side technology – it’s getting a boatload of “signal”, i.e. pixels, in the process. And that’s nothing to scoff at.
Tynt had raised nearly $12 million in venture funding (Crunchbase) up through a Series B round. 33across has raised $11 million. Tynt didn’t have a significant, revenue-generating business model, but the sense is, and 33across no doubt hopes, that the solution Tynt has created could be valuable to a company looking to leverage website user data.
What’s the next move for 33across? For now, 33across CEO Eric Wheeler says it’s about continuing to build analytics tools for publishers to help them sell direct – especially the top tier, where direct sales is critical to maximizing yield. And, data drives the media for 33across, as Wheeler told AdExchanger.com:
“So I think there are two sides to this. One is to be more on a private exchange basis for the top tier guys. Everything we purchase today is dynamic – via private exchange, RTB and exchanges. That’s how we source today and those are the vehicles [through which] the mid- and long tail are sourcing today. We don’t have a desire or need to be a new exchange. I think we’ll create a lot of value for those premium publishers with those combined services. For the mid- to long-tail, we’re going to be making them smarter. We’re going to be giving them the tools, access and insights that think like that. That’s incredibly powerful.”
So, from here, this is about a few things for 33across: data that feeds targeting; and publisher relationships which potentially provide “first look” to media at-scale. (Google bought Admeld for publisher relationships, too – and for the tech, and for the team.). And Tynt needed a place to land its trove of data.
33across also gets 17 people who are versed in the tech side of web data. As recruiting wars continue to rage for capable and experienced technologists, acqui-hiring is no small matter, either. Though teams are in Salt Lake and Calgary, location won’t matter nearly as much to New York City-based 33across as skill set.
Another possible, but more remote angle to this acquisition has to do with the 500,000 websites that 33across says uses Tynt technology. The company could end up echoing the strategy of a Lijit (acquired by Federated Media), for example. Lijit provides a search engine to long tail publishers as well as an ad network. 33across could provide its Tynt tools and then start an ad network business where publishers could install media placements sold through 33across. But, the company isn’t going there quite yet – at least publicly.
By John Ebbert
