In an effort to provide advertisers with broader audience targeting abilities, ad technology firm LucidMedia on Wednesday announced partnerships with behavioral targeting company AlmondNet; auction-based data exchange BlueKai; and data company eXelate. Per the deal, LucidMedia will bolster its contextual targeting technology with data and components from all three providers. Additions include AlmondNet's keyword and segment-based data; in-market data from BlueKai; and eXelate's pool of targeting data. "Offering our growing base of direct advertisers and agencies a singular access point to resources from these three market leaders will be invaluable," said Ajay Sravanapudi, LucidMedia founder and CEO. The offerings will help advertisers "to more accurately target their specific audiences in real-time as well as receive feedback on ad performance," said Michael Benedek, president of AlmondNet's Online Data Division. Reston, Va.-based LucidMedia was founded back in 1999, and now processes roughly 4 billion impressions daily, according to Sravanapudi. Last year, LucidMedia launched a program that combines the company's natural language processing technology with over 14,000 content categories. Named Verified Inventory, the app was designed to ensure that online advertisers and agencies matched ads with the most relevant categories. The tool focuses on accuracy, relying on more than 14,000 categories, ranging from A&E/Amusement and Theme Parks to Travel & Tourism/ Business Travel, and offered 32 content channels -- from automotive to health to sports -- as well as 14 media classifications such as news, blogs and social networks. Partnerships between ad technology companies and auction-based marketplaces seem to have become the norm. Earlier this year, for example, BlueKai partnered with ad technology company CPM Advisors to offer clients better audience-targeting data. The partnership was designed to help clients reach target audiences by offering them access to BlueKai's in-market data on over 160 million unique shoppers online, all directly within CPM's CPMatic media-buying platform.