• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, November 10, 2009

To help clients get the most out of their discretionary ad inventory, ad optimization technology provider AdMeld has tapped consumer intelligence solutions provider TARGUSinfo to integrate its AdAdvisor verified audience data.

The partners see a major growth opportunity in increasing the value of publishers' non-premium inventory. Indeed, non-premium display advertising will reach nearly $11.5 billion by 2013 and represent more than one-third of all display advertising, according to research and investment firm Think Equity.

"They deserve to get the maximum value for their ad inventory," Michael Barrett, CEO of AdMeld, said of online publishers. "Enriching impressions with verified audience data is a powerful way to do that."

Barrett is a seasoned new media executive who -- prior to joining AdMeld late last year -- served as EVP and chief revenue officer for News Corp.'s Fox Interactive Media, as well as EVP for sales and partnerships at AOL Media Networks.

AdMeld is one of a growing number of startups competing to help Web publishers better manage the sea of ad networks they can now choose from to sell leftover ad impressions. For a share of earned ad revenue, companies like The Rubicon Project, Pubmatic, and AdMeld factor in pricing data, available inventory, and publisher guidelines to determine which ad network is sent an ad impression -- work that a publisher's sales force would otherwise be required to perform.

Late last year, AdMeld launched a platform to help publishers maximize revenue from digital ad networks and ad exchanges. The platform attempts to leverage dynamic pricing and advanced targeting to better route inventory from publishers to generate higher revenue for each ad served.

AdAdvisor, which TARGUSinfo debuted earlier this year, is sold to advertisers where ads run on ad networks and publisher sites.

The Vienna, Va.-based company has historically helped clients aggregate data such as records from customer loyalty programs and call centers to identifying consumers at different points of transactions, including in-store, catalog, phone, and online.

It more recently transitioned to online services by providing lead verification. Like lead generation, verification identifies prospective customers by confirming contact information based on comparing collected and provided data.

Although it is not clear which use AdAdvisor, TARGUSinfo's clients include AT&T, Budget, Domino's Pizza, GE, HBO, Jenny Craig, Showtime, Starz, and Ticketmaster.

AdMeld claims over 125 customers worldwide, including Discovery Communications, Fox News, IAC, Thomson Reuters, World Wrestling Entertainment, and The Huffington Post.