Time Inc. will acquire the assets of Viant Technology Inc., a firm that describes itself as a people-based advertising technology company. Viant owns several ad-tech and media companies including
Specific Media, Vindico, Myspace and Xumo.
The deal price was not mentioned, but Viant said it favored the acquisition so that it would be able to combine premium content, subscriber and
visitor data and advertising inventory with its first-party data and targeting capabilities.
Time Inc. said Viant would enable it to target ad delivery, link devices to real people and convert
ad spending into actual sales.
“This acquisition is game-changing for us,” stated Time Inc. CEO Joe Ripp. “Marketers are selecting media partners that have either data-driven
capabilities or premium content; we will be able to deliver both in a single platform... In other words, we will be able to deliver advertisers’ messages targeted to optimal audiences across all
types of devices, along with the ability to measure ROI.”
On Wednesday, Time Inc. reported that digital ad revenues increased $15 million or 17% in the fourth quarter of 2015
year-over-year, due largely to growth in video, programmatic and mobile sales, and a focus on new content verticals.
Time Inc.’s overall revenue fell slightly as print ad revenue
declined $27 million, or 7% in Q4. Circulation revenue also fell $10 million or 3% due to poor newsstand sales.
The company served 119 million multiplatform unique visitors during December
2015 in the U.S., up 22% since December 2014.