• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, September 11, 2014

iCrossing, a Hearst company, struck a partnership to combine audience data and Connected Marketing Platform (CMP) with Kenshoo's media management software. The partnership creates what company executives call the most "sophisticated performance media offering" today.

iCrossing's access to Hearst's audience data from 200 million unique monthly visitors across its network of sites and other third-party sources will give the platform the insights to make better keyword bid predictions, cost-per-click analysis, and reporting. The data will allow marketers to make more informed decisions in other media channels such as organic search and paid social media. 

The two companies have committed to indefinitely combine data and technologies that can deliver much better performance together, rather than separately. Both have invested time and resources, including forming an integration team to lead the partnership, per Peter Randazzo, iCrossing CTO.

Randazzo, along with Kenshoo SVP of Product Will Martin-Gill, a former eBay director of global SEM, led the integration. The two are working closely on a smooth transition for clients, he said.

iCrossing went through a thorough request for proposal process of multiple companies before partnering with Kenshoo. "During the past several years we've seen the search and media management software space grow and evolve," Randazzo said. "Now is the time to take advantage of the media automation technology available on the market, so we can focus our effort on building supplemental, proprietary tools that will differentiate us and our clients."

The two companies continue to carefully transition clients to the combined platform. The integration team went through a careful evaluation to determine the best approach for reporting, tracking, analytics, testing and other important elements of the transition. "We are happy to say we arrived at a strong solution for each element, and are currently in the process of migrating clients," Randazzo said.