European ad network Adviva acquired by Specific Media

This is the kind of story that has become typical : a european-based company (and their investors) exit by selling to a US-based leader ; said leader expends internationally through this acquisition. Adviva has been acquired by US network Specific Media. Adviva started in 2000 in the UK, and then raised 8M$ in to support expansion to France and Germany in 2006. They managed a very nice growth, reaching 20 million unique visitors in the UK, and 12 and 10 million in France and Germany, respectively.

Max Bleyleben (Techofile Europe) gives his opinion on this exit for the Kennet portfolio :

My M&A banking years have instilled a healthy skepticism about mergers between similar businesses (as opposed to acquisitions of point technologies), but in this case, the two companies really are a perfect fit. Both run campaigns for top-end brand advertisers on small, high-quality networks of websites. Both have been using innovative targeting technologies to generate outsized results for advertisers, whether on a CPA or CPM basis. And while Specific Media’s network is US-centric, Adviva’s network is entirely European, so there is virtually no overlap.

Indeed, it looks like a textbook-case acquisition. And Specific Media is definitely a leader with its 140 million uniques monthly, reportedly the 4th largest ad network in the US, trailing only Google, AOL and Yahoo! (doing a bit of research, I noticed that AdBrite also claims to be on the 4th spot… In any case, Microsoft is not on the podium, this probably is a key factor in their appetite for Yahoo!)
Only a few months ago, Specific Media CEO Vanderhook was quoted by BloggingStocks as saying :

I think there will be more consolidation. So with the $100 million [we raised], we can also be a consolidator.

Indeed.

In any case, the online advertising world is worth watching : amid ever-growing expectations, dwindling revenues per CPM, there’s the rise of new forms of advertising, such as on social networks, and the promise of new exciting opportunities to be built.