Title: 
Yahoo Acquires Popular Behavioral Ad Firm

Word Count:
337

Summary:
Yahoo inc, the California-based search engine, announced recently that it has purchased BlueLithium, the fifth largest online ad network in the U.S. for $300 million, in with the goal of cornering the ever popular market of behavioral ad targeting.


Keywords:
Business


Article Body:
Yahoo inc, the California-based search engine, announced recently that it has purchased BlueLithium, the fifth largest online ad network in the U.S. for $300 million, in with the goal of cornering the ever popular market of behavioral ad targeting.

With this deal, Yahoo’s current behavioral ad targeting efforts, aimed primarily at users of Yahoo mail and Yahoo travel, will be strengthened by BlueLithium’s tracking technology, designed to zero in on consumer preferences as they navigate a site, which allowed for a more focused targeting of ad delivery by a business or, in this case, a search engine. 

This tracking ability is made possible by the use of cookies—small packets of data that record user visits and habits on certain sites, and over time, make it possible for Web sites to target their ads to specific demographics within their consumer base. 

According to Yahoo News, www.news.yahoo.com) senior vice president of  the Yahoo Publisher Network, Todd Teresi, responded to this purchase of the three year-old, invitation-only BlueLithium network via telephone by saying that this (purchase) “will give us (Yahoo) the ability to (deliver) more relevant advertising to consumers not only on the Yahoo network but also off of the network.”

Yahoo’s user base of over 250 million is expected to greatly expand, with the addition of BlueLithium’s nearly 120 million users, and the geo-targeting capabilities of the new tracking technology will allow said users to connect to online customer segments, featuring marketers that offer products and services tailored to their particular interests, and in some cases, location. 

Search Engine Optimization, which targets the behavior of Internet users via the use of searched keywords and other related methods, will likely see benefits from this newer type of behavioral marketing technology, since it will provide a clear, more defined scope of an individual’s search preferences and favorite sites.

It is reported that this acquisition of BlueLithium is expected to be finalized by the fourth quarter of this year, pending regulatory approval and other conditions.


