• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, November 7, 2007

The digital advertising services feeding frenzy continued today as Time Warner's AOL unit announced a deal to acquire Quigo, a performance marketing firm that operates the AdSonar online advertising network. Among the 500 publishers it represents, is AOL sister unit Time Inc.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the deal has been estimated at $340 million, and caps a buying spree that has erupted over the past year has sent market multiples for online advertising services - everything from ad networks and ad servers to interactive agencies.

Quigo marks the fourth ad services company AOL has acquired so far this year. Earlier deals included AOL's acquisitions of Third Screen Media, ADTECH AG, and TACODA, a leading behavioral targeting company. In addition, in September, AOL announced the formation of Platform-A, the world's largest digital display advertising platform, reaching more than 91% of the online audience.

AOL's deals are part of a bigger land grab in the online advertising services field that has been marked by big acquisitions like Microsoft's purchase of aQuantive and Google's pending merger with DoubleClick, but it is becoming clear that the biggest players are now seeking to bulk up with a significant array of assets.

For AOL, though, Quigo may be the last acquisition for a while, said Randy Falco, chairman-CEO of AOL: "With Quigo, we are putting the final pieces of Platform-A in place.

Meanwhile, the marketplace for media mergers and acquisitions has set a new record during the first nine months of 2007, as compared with any preceding year it has tracked, media industry investment banker Jordan Edmiston Group Inc. said in a third quarter report released recently.

With 637 transactions totaling more than $95 billion in value, New York-based JEGI said the first three quarters of 2007 already have matched all of 2006 in terms of the number of deals, and the deal value has far surpassed full-year 2006's total of $60.6 billion by 64%.

The marketing services and online media sectors - including deals like Microsoft's $5.7 billion acquisition of aQuantive - dominated the action, representing a combined 414 transactions valued at $36 billion, or 65% of all media and information deals and 38% of total deal value.