Digital marketing company Connexity has acquired Experian analytics division Hitwise.
In a simultaneous transaction, the former’s parent company, Symphony, has acquired Experian’s consumer research data base, Simmons Division – publisher of the National Consumer Study in the US.
The combined cost of both deals is slated at $47 million, with a further potential of up to $5 million based on an earn out.
Audience insight
Formerly know as Shopzilla, Connexity has ambitions to bolster its offering to marketers, agencies and publishers, leveraging Hitwise’s specialism, which lies in data collection and consumer behavioural analytics, comments Bill Glass, CEO of Connexity.
“Hitwise’s shift from website analytics to audience-based analytics aligns perfectly with our audience activation approach at Connexity, which is focused on delivering highly-targeted audiences created from our expansive shopping network,” adds Glass.
Ahead of the purchase, Hitwise launched the platform AudienceView, allowing for comprehensive demographic and psychographic behavioural insights on consumers.
Once integrated, Connexity says retailers could use the platform to compare the demographics, preferences and web behaviour of customers that shop at their physical stores with those that shop online, and use insights to adjust aspects of campaigns.
Connexity’s acquisition marks the group’s fourth in less than two years, adding Hitwise to a collection of established businesses powered by data from its retail network, which reaches over 100 million consumers per month.
While Hitwise and Simmons currently operate under a combined entity as ‘Experian Consumer Insights’, Connexity and Symphony will be seeking to separate the two throughout the course of 2016.