WPP has acquired Medialets, a company that developed the ability to help measure return on investment (ROI) of mobile ad campaigns.
The acquisition would help WPP improve its ability to report accurate ROI to its clients, according to a statement from WPP.
Medialets, which was founded in 2008, has worked with many major brands, including Johnson & Johnson, HBO, and American Express. The company boasts 50 employees worldwide.
WPP hopes that the acquisition will help reach its target of having 40-45 per cent of revenue derived from digital sources. Currently, data accounts for 36 per cent of its total revenues.
Post-acquisition, Medialets will continue to operate as a standalone business and WPP will significantly invest in Medialets.
In a blog post announcing the acquisition, Eric Litman, chairman and CEO of Medialets wrote: “WPP’s commitment to bring in additional resources to help us grow means you can look forward to new features, new functionality, and new platform integrations rolling out at an ever-increasing pace. In particular, we will be putting big focus on expanding our attribution capabilities, strengthening offers around creating safe environments for brand advertisers, and significantly growing our our ability to identify users and devices.”
It’s not just mobile WPP has taken notice of. Last year, WPP boosted its stake in ad exchange AppNexus to 15%. Earlier this year, WPP acquired a “substantial” stake in comScore to develop cross-media audience and campaign measurement offerings. WPP is also home to Xaxis, one of the largest trading desks in the world, which itself invested in the mobile ad space just last month when it acquired ActionX.
