Yahoo Acquires More Web Analytics

Source: Reuters

Yahoo today announced that it is purchasing Tensa Kft., a Hungarian analytics-software company more commonly known as IndexTools.

IndexTools provides companies with tools to track the effectiveness of their campaigns and automate the management of auction bidding.

Through the acquisition, Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) aims to shore up its position in what marketers see as the main nerve of the online advertising economy — the understanding that better data leads to more effective ad campaigns.

“What is the Holy Grail for online marketers? Well, it starts with knowing in real time whether your campaign is working or not,” Bassell Ojjeh, Yahoo’s senior vice president and head of strategic data solutions, wrote in a company blog post. “And it ends with turning that insight into tweaks that improve performance.”

The move is the latest in a string of acquisitions the major Web companies have been making to improve the technology underlying their ad platforms. Most recently, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) announced that it would acquire Rapt, an analytics company that provides tools for publishers to manage the complex processes of selling online ads.

It also comes just two days after Yahoo went public with details about AMP, its major ad platform overhaul, and in the midst of intensifying pressure from Microsoft to come to the bargaining table to discuss its unsolicited takeover bid.

But Yahoo continues to press on. It will roll the IndexTools technology into its Ad Center, the segment of its ad platform where companies can log in to view data on the effectiveness of their campaigns.

The company said that the first offering based on the new tools will be geared for the 150,000 small and mid-sized businesses that market on the Web using Yahoo.

Throughout the first year following the acquisition, Yahoo plans to roll out APIs that will allow third-party developers tap into the IndexTools technology to track usage of their applications.

In addition to its headquarters in Budapest, Hungary, IndexTools maintains offices in Frankfurt, Germany, and New York.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Yahoo expects the deal to close in the first half of the year.