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Google Buys Invite Media

Google bought ad technology start-up Invite Media, a 3-year-old "demand-side platform" designed to help buyers navigate high-volume display-advertising exchanges-like the one Google launched last year. The price is estimated in the $70 million range., reports All Things Digital.

Google's plan is to leave Invite running as a standalone unit, which will work at arm's length with exchange's like Google's AdX, as well as competitors like OpenX, Yahoo's Right Media and Microsoft's AdECN.

Like many startups, Invite CEO Nate Turner and his co-founders started Invite Media when they were still undergraduates at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Google buy will spark other demand-side platforms  to close shop or to merge in order to compete with Google. It may even spur some DSPs to cozy up closer to ad agencies. Expect Google to push marketers to buy more ad inventory on its exchange, AdX. Exchange buys are still nominal in comparison to the total of ads placed on the Web each year, says Forbes. And expect publishers to cringe. Most publishers shy away from ad exchanges for fear that they drive down revenues.

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