Microsoft has acquired Navic Networks, a provider of television advertising solutions. Navic will provide Microsoft with its Admira media placement service, which uses set-top box measurement to provide highly targeted and interactive advertisements to consumers. This technology is currently available in 35 million boxes nationwide. Effectively, Microsoft will be able to more easily enhance its digital advertising in both online and offline spaces. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“Powered by real-time data, we measure millions of set-tops worth of ad exposures at any given time,” said Chet Kajonia, CEO of Navic Networks. “Using this information we are able to make decisions about which advertisement to use to maximize the publishers’ value and optimize the marketers’ objectives.”
Scott Ferris, GM of Microsoft Advertiser and Publisher Solutions (APS) Group said the move is timely because television advertising has recently become a source of frustration for content owners, publishers and advertisers alike.
“It’s become a challenge demonstrating to advertisers why a dollar spent on TV is a good dollar spent versus other media options out there where you can easily measure the media and the ROI of that dollar,” he said.
In this move Navic will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft and will join APS. The company will remain at its headquarters in Waltham, MA. Ferris said the only expected staff change will be more hires to the Navic office.
“The goal is to not need to work in different silos of media like Internet, mobile and gaming consoles,” Ferris said. “Marketers want the capability to come in front of a dashboard with strategy, creative, objectives and a budget and say, ‘here’s how we want to reach this audience and here’s how much we want to spend to reach them.’ We are building that dashboard.”
