Adknowledge Buys MIVA Media

Adknowledge, a Kansas City-based provider of behavioral online advertising solutions, has acquired the Media division of MIVA Inc. No financial terms were disclosed. Adknowledge raised $48 million in funding in 2006 from Technology Crossover Ventures.

 

PRESS RELEASE

Adknowledge announced today that it has acquired the Media division of MIVA, Inc.

MIVA Media, one of the largest independent online performance advertising networks, was founded in 1999 and includes the Espotting and Findwhat.com brands. Another of MIVA, Inc.’s divisions, MIVA Direct, was not affected by the transaction and continues to be owned and operated by MIVA, Inc. Going forward, Adknowledge will retain the MIVA, Findwhat.com, and Espotting brands.

 

The all-cash acquisition reflects Adknowledge’s aggressive strategy to expand its position as the leading multi-channel advertising solution for advertisers.

 

“Adknowledge’s financial strength and strong bottom-line performance have allowed us to make strategic acquisitions,” said Scott Lynn, CEO of Adknowledge. “We plan to quickly combine MIVA Media’s strong industry position and experience with Adknowledge’s core predictive targeting technology to improve results for MIVA Media’s advertisers.”

It is expected that the acquisition will positively impact Adknowledge’s financial results as soon as Q2 of this year.

 

Adknowledge’s technology will enable the MIVA Media business to scale quickly and improve results for publishers and advertisers alike. “We believe that combining the scale and technology of Adknowledge with MIVA Media will make the combined business a ‘must buy’ for many advertisers looking for marketing alternatives to Google and Yahoo,” added Lynn. Peter Corrao, President & CEO of MIVA, Inc., added that “we believe the transaction will further extend Adknowledge’s reach at a time when many advertisers are looking to focus their marketing spend on more measurable, performance-based channels.”

 

Adknowledge has already completed four smaller acquisitions in the last 18 months. Three of the acquisitions were focused on social media, including Cubics, Lookery, and social analytics company Adonomics.com. Additionally, the company purchased Mediarun, a display ad network based in the United Kingdom and Australia.

 

Adknowledge continues to evaluate additional acquisition opportunities. “Our advertiser and targeting platforms enable us to easily ‘plug-in’ acquisitions into our infrastructure and recognize immediate synergy,” said Lynn.

 

About Adknowledge

Adknowledge ( www.adknowledge.com) is a performance-based advertising network that utilizes powerful predictive technology to connect advertisers with consumers across multiple channels, including email, search, messaging, domain, and social networks. Over 50,000 advertisers currently use the Adknowledge ad network ( www.bidsystem.com) to promote their offers. Headquartered in Kansas City, Adknowledge also has domestic offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and international offices in the United Kingdom and Australia.

About MIVA Media

MIVA Media is a contextual Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ad network focused on key vertical sectors. Its mission is to deliver valuable digital audiences to advertisers. MIVA Media delivers more than 140 million clicks to advertisers each month and helps maximize revenue for the thousands of third-party web publishers that display its PPC ads. You can learn more about MIVA Media at http://miva.com.