Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE), looking to make hay in the expanding video advertising market, has acquired Auditude Inc., a privately held video ad management platform that helps publishers like MLB.com, Starz, DailyMotion, Fox News and others monetize premium content with high-end ad campaigns across multiple platforms.
The deal, estimated to have cost Adobe about $120 million, gives the company a foot in the door to an industry for which its already integral, in the form of its Adobe Flash Media Server 4.5 software and Adobe Pass.
"We felt that Auditude was really a market leader, not only from a technology perspective, but also in the way that they look at the market," said Adobe VP and GM of Media Solutions Todd Teresi. "Auditude is not only focused on video, but alternative devices as well... connected devices like tablets, smartphones [and] gaming consoles."
The deal continues Adobe's push into video advertising; in January, it bought data management platform Demdex, in 2009 it paid $1.8 billion for Omniture, and last year it lost a fight with Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) to buy Invite Media.
Auditude's acquisition helps Adobe create an end-to-end video offering, connecting authoring, publishing, monetization and optimization with the goal of helping customers build long-term businesses through the delivery of quality video content and superior viewing experience across all IP-enabled devices.
"Premium video publishers want to capitalize on the foundational shift to digital by providing viewers with great media experiences and maximizing the value of their content on every IP device," said David Wadhwani, SVP and GM of Adobe's Digital Media Business Unit. "With this acquisition, Adobe can now offer an unparalleled platform for authoring, distributing, analyzing and monetizing digital video experiences everywhere--simplifying workflows, increasing consumer engagement, delivering insights and driving increased revenue for content publishers."
For more:
- see this release
- see this Adobe post
- see this VentureBeat article
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