Acquisitions in Ad-Tech: Smartly.io to buy Ad-Lib.io

Helsinki-based firm Smartly.io announced it is buying Ad-Lib.io, for more than $100 million. The European-based pair is a natural fit, as Smartly.io focuses primarily on paid social media on Meta Platforms and Pinterest, Tiktok and Snapchat, and Ad-Lib.io specializes in creative tools for various Google platforms. The newly combined firm will be even better able to deliver ads to consumers at a time and place, ie platform, at a time that maximizes effectiveness for brand marketers. Consumers are more easily influenced when brands personalize their content and target relevant audiences, and Ad-Lib.io will help Smartly.io do just that. Digital advertising is “expected to account for 64.4% of total advertising in 2021, according to a December forecast from GroupM”, as noted in WSJ.com. We’ll likely continue to see growth from ad tech companies given the prolonged pandemic has helped cement the increasing digital consumer shopping habits. And while the large tech firms have faced a variety of public backlash in the last few years, their massive success has helped other fringe companies connected to the products succeed and grow, supporting the increase in digital marketing. Given that “somewhere between 80% and 90% of digital advertising outside of China will go to Google parent Alphabet Inc., Meta and Amazon.com Inc” according to GroupM, as quoted in WSJ.com, Smartly.io is well positioned for success. Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/ad-tech-company-smartly-io-to-buy-google-focused-firm-for-over-100-million-11641384002