Web portal company Yahoo agreed to acquire Yoyodyne Entertainment, Irvington, NY, last week in a $30 million deal that will strengthen the direct marketing component of Yahoo's advertising and merchant services and increase the exposure of Yoyodyne's permission-based promotions.
“From the beginning, our intent was to partner with someone who had a well-respected global brand and a huge amount of reach, and Yahoo was our first choice in both categories,” said Yoyodyne president Seth Godin. “It exactly fits our model because it brings the two things we didn't have.”
Yahoo, Santa Clara, CA, gains access to Yoyodyne's database of more than 1 million e-mail addresses and the technical know-how to implement a permission-based business model. The deal represents a shift by Yahoo to an approach more targeted than general branding.
“This is a signal that says advertisers are demanding more measurable accountability and people on the Internet are realizing that half of all marketing dollars go to promotions and direct marketing, not to advertising,'' Godin said “There was all this money being left on the table, and now Yahoo can offer thousands of customers the ability to do both.”
Spokeswoman Diane Hunt said Yahoo will continue to do all the things it has traditionally done as an Internet media company to reach targeted audiences.
