WPP bolsters ad tech investment with BIScience investment
WPP’s Kantar Media has announced it has invested in digital media and planning services provider BIScience, as the wider holding group bolsters its big data and programmatic media buying capabilities.
The exact amount of the investment was not publicly disclosed, although the investment means BiScience - provider of AdClarity, a cross-channel media intelligence tool that lets advertisers plan and optimise their media plans – clients can benefit from insights on competitors in the programmatic advertising industry.
These include: share of voice (advertiser, publisher, campaign, creative, and mediator); impressions and ad spend; unique publisher audience and traffic data; aggregated RTB rates; plus ad platform usage.
This is made possible as BIScience taps on the daily monitoring and tracking of over 500,000 unique publishers and mobile apps across 22 million publisher pages worldwide, meaning it is able to track and monitor over 14.5 million campaigns, on over 35,000 ad platforms.
Commenting on the investment, Andy Brown, Kantar Media's chief executive, said: “Digital and programmatic are increasing in importance, and adding BIScience’s capabilities to our existing portfolio represents an exciting development for our clients, the marketplace, and the businesses we operate.”
Kfir Hod Moyal, chief exectuive and co-founder of BIScience, added: “There is a dire need in the marketplace for the continual evolution of digital measurement. Working with Kantar Media will enable us to address those needs in the most synergetic, effective, and timely manner while empowering clients to make the most out of their digital investments.”
Kantar Media forms part of WPP’s data services arms, with the purchase building on several other investments, and launches, in the sector over the past 12 months from the holding group.
Most recently, WPP’s GroupM confirmed a tie-up with social analytics frim Networked Insights, to allow its staff to plan and optimise campaigns based on what audiences are talking about on social netowrks, such as Google.
Meanwhile, earlier in the year WPP unveiled marketing and analytics company Gain Theory, plus it also announced that its ad tech hub Xaxis agreed to purchase ActionX, to bolster its mobile capabilities.
All this came after it forked out $25m for a stake in ad tech firm AppNexus.