• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, June 17, 2009

MediaCom announced plans on Wednesday to begin offering clients the ability to manage their digital ad campaigns with Eyeblaster's ad-serving platform.

As a company rooted in the world of rich media, the deal firmly secures Eyeblaster's position as an independent ad-serving platform.

Along with Eyeblaster, MediaCom will still offer its clients the ability to manage their campaigns on DoubleClick's DART platform -- the onus being on options, according to Lowell Simpson, senior partner of media systems and Technology at the media buying agency.

"As the industry matures, our clients' digital initiatives are becoming more complex and multi-platform," said Lowell Simpson, senior partner, media systems and technology director at MediaCom.

Now, he added, "we feel we are better able to provide our clients with seamless, verifiable reporting for the customized, integrated digital solutions provided through Lifeline" -- MediaCom's own proprietary campaign management system.

The partnership factors in all types of digital adverting, including display and rich media, but not yet search advertising. According to a study just released by Eyeblaster and TNS Media Intelligence, a clear majority of senior marketers -- 67% -- are now running cross-channel campaigns, while only 12% are integrating performance data across channels.

A majority -- about 60% -- of marketers say they would like to integrate data more often, but they rarely do because of a lack of confidence in the numbers.

Moreover, some 44% or respondents blame a lack of suitable metrics to measure impact, 37% blame lack of case studies showing cross-channel effectiveness, and 34% cite lack of technology.

Part of WPP's GroupM, MediaCom clients include Allergan, Audi, ConAgra Foods, Dell, GlaxoSmithKline, JetBlue, LVMH, Michelin, and Nokia, to name a few.