Digital advertising company Adknowledge has acquired video ad platform, Giant Media.
The US-founded firm said the purchase recognises the ‘explosive growth of video’ as an advertising method that will allow advertisers and agencies to scale the viewership of their content.
Adknowledge, which aims to help advertisers eliminate waste and maximise return on advertising spend, has not disclosed financial terms of the deal.
Giant Media develops video products designed to maximise earned media and social sharing. An example of that is Giant Media’s distribution of the viral Dollar Shave Club video that has more than 13 million views and served as the public debut of the popular, low-cost shaving supply company.
In an exclusive interview with PI last month, CEO of the Kansas City-headquartered business, Ben Legg, admitted video was one of areas the business had left to crack.
“Adknowledge has a great track record of building new products internally, plus using acquisitions to fill strategic gaps,” said Legg.
“The acquisition of Giant accelerates our momentum in video, and enables Adknowledge to continue applying our data-driven approach to helping large brands get a great ROI, at scale, from their digital media spend.”
Los Angeles- headquartered Giant Media has offices in New York and Detroit, which will expand Adknowledge’s Southern California presence. Legg said the plan is to scale Giant globally.
President of Adknowledge, Marco Ilardi, said as digital video is expected to account for $7 billion of ad spending next year; many of its current clients are interested in exploring video as a way to engage consumers.
“Giant Media has worked with some of the leading brands in the world, including Johnson & Johnson, 20th Century Fox, Honda, American Express, Red Bull and Pepsi,” Ilardi said.
“This deal allows us to deliver more capability to those clients, and others in the market.”
See here for previous Adknowledge news:
Behind the CEO – Ben Legg Adknowledge
VP, Direct Response Advertising, Adknowledge – Shares Insights