• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, August 30, 2011

Digital media and ad technology provider DG on Tuesday announced buying EyeWonder from Limelight Networks for $66 million. Marking a major loss for the content delivery company, the sale price is nowhere near the $110 Limelight paid for the rich media experts at EyeWonder last year.

For DG, the deal is just the latest in a string of acquisitions designed to strengthen its position in the field of digital advertising products and services.

Most recently, it bought online ad firm MediaMind -- formerly Eyeblaster -- for $414 million in cash. Gal Trifon, former MediaMind CEO, remains at DG as chief digital officer.

For DG, the greater mission is to build one platform that targets consumers with ads online and on TV, according to Neil Nguyen, president and COO of DG.

"To fulfill our vision of converging TV and online media, we require a strong global position in online advertising," Nguyen said. "By joining EyeWonder with Unicast and MediaMind, we are strategically establishing an online media powerhouse."

DG expects EyeWonder to generate revenues of approximately $36 million to $37 million for full-year 2011. In addition, it anticipates realizing $7 million in cost synergies in the first 12 months following the close of the EyeWonder transaction.

Limelight Networks did not return requests for comment by press time on Tuesday.

Illustrated by its acquisition of EyeWonder last year, Limelight has aggressively sought to scale its offerings.

In 2009, the Tempe, AZ-based company bought video ad insertion firm Kiptronic for a reported $12 million. Kiptronic's Web-based tools are designed to help advertisers detect and serve dynamic video ads to connected devices.

Microsoft was rumored to be considering an acquisition of Limelight a few years ago. More recently, it acquired Delve Networks, a privately held provider of cloud-based video publishing and analytics services. for a reported $10 million.

Known as DG FastChannel until late last year, DG is a major provider of content management and distribution solutions for advertising, entertainment and broadcast industries.

DG's rebranding extended to all current subsidiaries and products, including Unicast, which develops custom rich solutions for publishers; Springbox, an interactive marketing firm; Pathfire, the a distribution service for SD and HD syndicated programming; Match Point Media (Treehouse), which customizes and distributes direct-response advertising; and SourceEcreative, a global information and archival resource.