• by Tanya Gazdik , June 3, 2008

Ad network and technology provider Collective Media has acquired Personifi, a provider of audience targeting technology to Web publishers, ad networks and mobile providers.

Terms were not disclosed by the companies, but sources peg it at an 8-figure deal combining cash and stock.

Collective Media acquired the Fort Worth, Texas-based Personifi because of its unique approach to content classification and audience targeting, said Collective Media CEO Joe Apprendi. The acquisition strengthens Collective's current integration with Personifi's sophisticated ad targeting and content classification capabilities, and will further solidify the continued development of the Personifi product suite. Personifi will continue to operate as a separate business unit under Collective Media.

"The best part of this acquisition is that Collective has been a customer of Personifi for nearly a year," Apprendi told Online Media Daily. "This is a proven partnership that is currently delivering results to our publisher and advertiser customers. This eliminates a lot of uncertainty that customarily comes with ad technology acquisitions. Personifi is already successfully integrated into our AMP ad network platform and in use across hundreds of campaigns every month."

More that 50% of the campaigns run by New York-based Collective include the Personifi targeting solutions which use mathematical algorithms to intelligently evaluate all of the content on a Web page to create more accurate contextual and behavioral segments. Collective Media leverages this rich content data to offer clients advertising options across 26 standard contextual channels and thousands more custom categories.

"Collective is in a unique, differentiated position in the ad network competitive set," Appendi said. "While a cluttered arena, Collective combines the highest quality publisher inventory with the most sophisticated audience targeting solution. With Personifi, Collective delivers a unified technology platform for both contextual and behavioral targeting."

Personifi's audience detection and targeting technology strategically and mathematically analyzes all of the content on a Web page, not just keywords. As the demand for audience targeting services continues to rise dramatically, this will be key, Apprendi said.

EMarketer reports that spending on behavioral targeting will reach $3.8 Billion by 2011.