Time Warner Inc.’s AOL has bought a controlling interest in Adtech AG, a German online ad-serving firm that helps online publishers manage, traffic and report on their Internet advertising campaigns.
The deal gives AOL, Dulles, VA, access to the Helios IQ ad-serving platform, whose user interfaces, inventory management, forecasting tools and reporting are used in 25 countries.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Executives from AOL and Adtech were not available for comment.
Adtech, which has nothing to do with the ad:tech advertising technology conference, becomes an independent and majority-owned subsidiary of AOL’s Advertising.com unit.
The acquired company is said to complement Advertising.com’s display, video and affiliate advertising networks. The goal is to offer publisher clients a one-stop service for ad management and monetization.
Adtech entered the U.S. market last fall to handle its local clients. The company will continue to maintain its Frankfurt base as part of the deal.
Advertising.com, Baltimore, has operations in nine countries in Europe and Asia other than its domestic operations.
At the same time as this acquisition, AOL announced it bought mobile ad network Third Screen Media and six months after the purchase of Relegance Corp.
AOL also purchased Userplane in August and Lightningcast Inc. three months before that. The company purchased Truveo Inc. in December 2005, Weblogs Inc. in October that same year and Xdrive Inc. and Wildseed Ltd. two months before. AOL bought Advertising.com in June 2004.
