WPP has announced that 24/7 Media has acquired Crystal Semantics, a provider of semantic advertising solutions, from Ad Pepper. Last week WPP announced that 24/7 would be merged with Xaxis, the agency group’s trading desk, so Crystal Semantics will be rolled into Xaxis too.s
Crystal Semantics has proprietary technology that matches ads to the meaning of a page of web content, which can help boost engagement and prevent inappropriate placements. The company was founded in 2001 and is based in London, an the company has been a provider of data services to agencies, networks and exchanges.
This investment continues WPP’s strategy push into digital, which – if you look at Xaxis alone – is increasingly starting to look like the embryonic stages of a fully-fledged tech play aimed at competing with the ad technology stacks being built by companies like Google, AOL, Adobe and DG. As a Xaxis statement highlighted last week, the trading desk now has access to:
• Unique and anonymous cross-channel data assets
• A fully-featured audience development and monetization tool for publishers
• Rich proprietary display, video, and mobile advertising formats
• A yield management and ad decisioning engine
• Analytics and audience measurement tools
• A search marketing platform
• A premium marketplace of programmatic media spanning display, online video, social, mobile, radio, out-of-home, native and connected TV advertising.
