• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, June 22, 2011

Combining TV and online advertising isn't easy. It's pretty basic: TV doesn't offer the same measurements as online, but it will.

DG, which delivers video ads through a digital network, wanted to expand into online advertising. So, last week it acquired online ad firm MediaMind, formally Eyeblaster, for $414 million in cash. Gal Trifon, former MediaMind CEO, will remain at DG as chief digital officer.

Trifon told MediaPost the combined companies -- DG and MediaMind -- stand a better chance of successfully supporting targeted ads based on consumer behavior across traditional and online media, compared with two separate businesses.

"The ultimate goal is to identify users and subscribers as they access content on TV and online and target them with ads," Trifon said. "You create an ad -- and, regardless [if it's] online or TV or mobile -- you can deliver it to [users] based on the device capability and track behavior. It's about creating consistency."

The idea is to build one platform that targets consumers with ads online and on TV. The bigger challenges become identifying users and measuring the results across TV and online platforms. Unless you're able to recognize that someone is both browsing video content online and watching TV, then offering unique users targeting will become very difficult.

Trifon hopes by the time the system is built consumers will feel more comfortable about identifying themselves and benefit from less frequent, but more relevant, advertising based on their interests. It's not necessarily the technology creating the barrier, but consumer confidence and the ability of companies to leverage data to target across platforms.