Cox Enterprises laid down $300 million for vertical ad network Adify today as ad networks in general continue to seem like the Next Big Thing. Adify is a major get for Cox, which is looking to increase it’s ad reach online. Marketing Vox points out:
Last August Adify launched the Gay Ad Network, which now tops the LGBT category. Adify also helps power Six Apart Media and enjoys the attentions of major investors, including NBCU and Time Warner. Clients include the Guardian, Forbes and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.
For Cox, the strategic fit is a bit of a stretch on the online side…it does have Cox Newspapers’ online presence, and it is part of the upstart newspaper ad alliance quadrantOne. But on the cable ad services side, it has been among the early movers into digital and VOD advertising, and could be a fit there. It is also one of the founding cable partners of the ambitious national cable ad network Project Canoe…
According to our sources, Adify made about $7 million in revenues in 2007, and is on track to do around $35 million this year. By any standards, it is a very rich deal. Then, a juicy bit for the bankers: Adify hired JP Morgan after Cox approached the company. CEO Russell Fradin and COO/CFO did the deal themselves.
If all the recent media hoopla about ad networks has left you a bit confused, Dawn Anfuso over at iMedia has a very informative round up of the five different types of ad networks that’ll get you up to speed.
