Five ad tech acquisitions in the span of a week would normally signal some kind of trend. But that’s not quite the case with the deals that crossed our journalists’ desks this September.
There are deals large and small. The acquirers span the ecosystem, from agencies to ad tech to publishers, and a private equity firm thrown in. “AI” was name dropped across all of the deals. But the extent to which AI actually clinched the deal – that’s a question in our minds.
On this week’s podcast, we get to the TL;DR on these five acquisitions:
- Magnite bought ai to make CTV advertising more accessible to small businesses and smaller budgets.
- DeepIntent received $637 million from a private equity acquirer that believes healthcare advertising – even as it faces governmental pressure – is ripe for growth.
- AI-powered virtual product placement startups Rembrand, which was founded by ad tech OG Omar Tawakol, is merging with another startup, Spaceback, which uses AI to convert social media content and videos into CTV ad creative.
- Minute Media, owner of sports media properties like Sports Illustrated and Players’ Tribune, bought VideoVerse, which makes video clips out of content – including, potentially, sports highlights.
- The data science consultancy, RocketSource, uses its data know-how and AI to predict customer behavior, which the marketing agency Incubeta acquired and plans to use to shape itself a more AI-oriented agency.
We break down what each of these deals means for the acquirer’s strategy and prospects. This spate of deals isn’t making us optimistic about the broader economy. There are no frothy listed valuations, and the companies themselves appear leaned down by AI – which is both enabling a new class of companies and requiring fewer people to make those ideas acquirable.