• by John Capone , October 21, 2009

In an effort to chase real-time audience segmentation, Omnicom Media Group has partnered with Fox Audience Network (FAN). The move will allow OMG to leverage FAN's suite of proprietary online advertising tools for its newly created Living Segments, a consumer insights planning platform.

"One of our priorities going forward is to deliver sophisticated tools and services to advertising agencies that will empower them to make more informed choices on behalf of their clients," said Adam Bain, president of the Fox Audience Network. "By giving companies such as OMG this Real-Time audience planning and buying platform at scale, we know that FAN will quickly become not only a partner, but an invaluable resource to both agencies and marketers in the future."

Under the terms of the agreement, OMG gains access to FAN's Audience Insights, Audience Planner and Real-Time Bidding platforms -- a suite of digital advertising campaign products that the company says will amount to a real-time panel and become invaluable in increasing the efficiency of its planning and buying services with what Omnicom Media Group Director of Business Intelligence and Living Segments designer John Donahue refers to as "the largest consumer panel in the world, delivering various insights that are invaluable to both online and offline marketers."

"In a marketplace that is defined by both challenge and change, industry leaders need to work together to drive innovations that will optimize client investment," said Matt Spiegel, CEO, Omnicom Media Group Digital in a statement. "This groundbreaking partnership between Omnicom Media Group and Fox Audience Network exemplifies that dynamic, allowing us to deliver the information consumers want in the environments that matter most to them -- quickly and cost-effectively."

According to an October comScore report, FAN -- which also manages a self-serve advertising platform currently utilized by more than 30,000 advertisers -- is in the top ten ad networks, with about 155 million uniques. This September at OMMA Global New York, Jonathan Miller, CEO, Digital Media Group at News Corp., hinted that the company had much in store for FAN. "We haven't made a lot of noise about it yet, but it's really poised ... We are about to come out of the closet with FAN in the next couple of months," he told MediaPost's Joe Mandese. FAN may have more in the works than the deal with OMG, which is not exclusive, although it is the first FAN has made.

In recent years, Madison Avenue has been increasingly eager to connect with Silicon Valley, especially as it relates to the shift from buying media to buying audiences. Publicis last year announced a so-called "Audience on Demand" deal through VivaKi, leveraging the audience-targeting capabilities of Google, Yahoo Microsoft and utilizing Google's DoubleClick to deliver ads.

OMG's Spiegel says: "This part of our strategy is much more about planning than it is buying." When compared to Audience on Demand, he says: "We're absolutely active with a lot of things along those lines, but this is actually much more about helping the overall communications planning process so that we can help marketers better refine their target audience wherever they're buying media. This isn't just about doing online buying."