Hours before releasing its third quarter financial results,
Yahoo today announced an acquisition and a major investment meant to
improve its oft-criticized ad business.
Yahoo bought AdInterax and took a 20 percent stake in Right
Media, creator of the Right Media exchange, according to statements.
Yahoo said it bought AdInterax for its technology.
The acquisition will enable Yahoo to provide marketers a streamlined
process for building rich media formats, including floating
animations, expandable banners and streaming videos, as well as new
campaign management tools at no charge, the company said.
Yahoo did not disclose financial details of the deal.
The Right Media Exchange is an online exchange for publishers and
advertisers. Yahoo said it will participate in the exchange.
“Yahoo is constantly looking for new ways to connect advertisers with
audiences,” Yahoo vice president of sales operations Todd Teresi told internetnews.com. “This expands the channels.”
Specifically, Yahoo will make “non-premium” ad inventory available on
the exchange.
A spokesperson defined “non-premium” as advertising that would not
benefit from Yahoo’s many targeting technologies.
The spokesperson said, for example, that marketers would not see ad
space from a page in Yahoo’s automotive section available on the
exchange.
It makes too much sense for Yahoo to sell that inventory to
car makers at a premium.
Yahoo’s investment in Right Media Exchange is part of $45 million in
Series B financing for the smaller company.
“We’ve had ongoing discussions with them over the last year. I think
we’ve known for a while that we see the world very similarly,” Right
Media CEO Mike Walrath told internetnews.com.
A Yahoo spokesperson told internetnews.com that neither the
AdInterax acquisition nor the Right Media investment should be
interpreted as moves meant to counteract recent Wall Street
pessimism regarding Yahoo’s advertising business.
All that started at the end of the last quarter when Yahoo’s profit
drop disappointed investors almost as much as the company’s delays in
bringing its search-marketing product, code-named Panama, to market.
Search marketing was the key element in last year’s 30 percent online ad
revenue increase.
Yahoo CEO Terry Semel didn’t help the negativity with his public pessimism concerning his company’s slowing
advertising sales earlier this fall.
Yahoo will announce its third quarter results later today.
