Ad network Federated Media is announcing an acquisition today, buying a semantic profiling technology platform from semantic search startup TextDigger today. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
TextDigger, which was incubated at CNET in 2005, spun out a platform for semantic search and related services. TextDigger’s technology allows owners of large content
collections to add semantics indexing on top of an existing keyword search engine.
Federated Media will use the new technology to add semantic technology to content tagging, filtering, topic extraction, and SEO. The technology will also be used for ad targeting, and semantic search engine optimization for a site or network of sites. As you may know, Federated went beyond just serving ads a few years ago, to giving advertisers and publishers a marketing toolbox to see how people interact with these ads.
Tim Musgrove, TextDigger’s founder, will join Federated as Chief Scientist, while retaining an affiliation with TextDigger as their Senior Research Fellow. TextDigger will continue its search business. TextDigger will bring over 5 customers to Federated
Federated Medias founder John Battelle tells me that the acquisition (which he says is the first in the company’s history), will help website owners make their content more engaging. He says the buy is part of of the company’s aggressive strategt towards boosting its product offerings. Last fall, the Federates launched more ad-units and social media-focused ads. The company also recently brought on a Chief Product Officer as well.
After shopping the company around in 2008 and not finding a buyer willing to pay his price, Federated raised a $50 million investment round instead. The company is now profitable and reaches 70 million uniques worldwide.