Direct marketer Publishers Clearing House has acquired mobile marketing company Liquid Wireless. Publishers Clearing House CEO Andy Goldberg said the acquisition closed “before Christmas” but declined to disclose terms.
Liquid Wireless specializes in mobile lead generation, media buying and analytics. The company develops mobile optimized lead generation forms, as well as websites, and also maintains a real time bidding (RTB) engine.
“We’re very focused on the rapid shift in consumers, from desktops to mobile, and really very focused on wanting to make sure that we not only optimize all of our consumer experiences but that we can also monetize well in the mobile channel,” Goldberg said. “From the time that we started our online efforts, lead generation has been a significant component of our business model. We were interested in making sure we could move quickly to monetize the sweeps entry activity that we get with lead generation.”
Publishers Clearing House has been examining the online lead generation market “for the last couple years” in search of something to supplement its existing lead generation business, Goldberg said. The company limited that search in 2011 companies with mobile capabilities, he added.
Liquid Wireless will continue to operate out of its Portland, Maine, headquarters as an independent entity owned by Publishers Clearning House. Jason Cianchette remains the company’s president and will report to Goldberg. All Liquid Wireless employees are being retained.
Publishers Clearing House has been running a TV campaign over the last two weeks to promote its “Win $1 Million Every Year for Life” sweepstakes, and of the traffic to PCH.com driven by the ads, 30% came from mobile devices, Goldberg said.
“We’re already getting a significant amount of mobile traffic, a lot of new consumers coming to us, and we’re able to not only introduce some of our properties and do email registration but also to immediately monetize that traffic with Liquid Wireless offers,” he said.
