UBM Buying In To Game Ads With Small GAO Acquisition
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When you look at the booming popularity of online games - from World Of Warcraft to FarmVille - it’s hard not to say “let’s have a bit of that”.
That’s what CEO David Levin’s B2B publisher United Business Media (LSE: UBM) (UBM) is saying - it’s buying Game Advertising Online (GAO), a New Zealand-based indie ad agency that serves ads in to free-to-play, web-based massively multiplayer online (MMO) games.
The price is $1 million, with earnout of up to $7 million conditional on targets. UBM is housing GAO in TechWeb, its business technology publishing division that accommodates InformationWeek and Web 2.0 Summit. The aim: to “diversify UBM TechWeb’s games industry revenue stream and extend its Game Group’s business relationships to online game publishers and to consumer-oriented games websites”, says the release.
GAO claims to serve more than two billion ad impressions per month to over 50 million gamers, delivering both in-game ads and banners on to game-related sites and forums; its network includes Acclaim and Travian.
The company uses an auction system to take ads on a cost-per-click basis. The company is profitable and is forecasting $4 million revenue for 2009/10. UBM says this is a step to “expand our business with online game publishers and with consumer-oriented online game websites”.
Posted In: Advertising, Entertainment, Games, Money, M&A & Venture Capital, Mergers & Acquisitions, game advertising online, united business media
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