Attention measurement specialist Adelaide Metrics today announced it has acquired marketing insights business Rita in an all-stock transaction, alongside closing a $1.4 million seed extension round led by AperiamVentures, a venture capital firm specialising in ad tech.
Adelaide’s core product is its ‘AU’ attention metric, which analyses ad placements across different channels to gauge the probability that it will capture a viewer’s attention. Rita’s product, which collects opted-in data from users and lets them monetise it themselves by giving third-parties access to that data, will be used to enhance the AU metric.
Deterministic behavioural data, ad exposure data, and outcome data gleaned through Rita will be used (in a privacy-safe manner) to inform Adelaide’s models, according to the measurement company, thereby improving the predictive accuracy of the AU metric. Adelaide meanwhile will also invest in expanding Rita’s user base, thus increasing the reach of its panel, and further improving the quality of the data used to inform the AU metric.
Adelaide says Rita’s will strictly be used to improve media quality measurement, and not for targeting, personalisation, or attribution. The measurement company stressed that it won’t be competing with other panel-based data companies, since Rita will retain market independence.
“[Rita’s CEO and co-founder John Arts] and I share a vision of empowering individuals to reclaim control of their data and actively participate in the data marketplace,” said Marc Guldimann, CEO & Founder of Adelaide. “Adelaide will utilise Rita’s data in a completely privacy-friendly manner to continue refining the accuracy and utility of AU.
Competing for attention
Adelaide’s acquisition comes as attention metrics continue to define their space in the media landscape. While a number of major players on both the buy-side and sell-side are incorporating attention metrics into their offerings, there’s still plenty of room for growth. Plus there are still quite a few distinct attention offerings on the market, with different methodologies – no one way of measuring attention has established itself above the others.
The new funding secured by Adelaide will help the company continue to grow its slice of the market. The business says new capital will be used to enhance Adelaide’s product capabilities and support team growth globally.
The fact that the round was led by AperiamVentures, given its specialism in ad tech, is a boon for Adelaide too. “Our investment is a testament to our confidence in Adelaide’s vision and capacity to fundamentally transform the advertising industry,” said Joe Zawadzki, general partner at AperiamVentures, best known as the founder of MediaMath (who lays a claim to having invented the DSP).
One area of focus for Adelaide over the past year has been expanding its work with the sell-side, notably through the launch of Adelaide for Publishers. While Adelaide largely works with the buy-side to help them find high-attention media across different channels, AFP helps publishers understand and optimise the attention value of their own inventory,
Partly through this sell-side expansion, Adelaide says it’s seeing increased market demand, and had more than doubled its team size over the past year.
