AOL announced yesterday that it has acquired buy.at, an independent affiliate network that provides a platform for performance-based e-commerce marketing programs to advertisers and publishers. Buy.at will operate as a wholly owned business unit of Advertising.com, part of AOL’s Platform-A organization.
AOL announced yesterday that it has acquired buy.at. Buy.at will operate as a wholly owned business unit of Advertising.com, part of AOL’s Platform-A organization. (Photo: AOL)
If you are not familiar with buy.at, you are not alone. To clear it up some, buy.at, founded in 2002, is an affiliate-marketing network in which affiliates (publishers) partner with advertisers (merchants) to enhance sales growth by driving consumers to those companies' websites.
Unlike traditional display advertising or pay-per-click (PPC) models, an advertiser only pays when a visitor to its site takes action (such as making a purchase or signing up for a free trial). This is called PPA advertising or pay-per-action.This explains why it is not often mentioned. While the potential for affiliates to make good money is high, the odds of a good PPA return are still low.
This marks the fifth time in twelve months that AOL has bought an advertising company in order to revamp their advertising and marketing business model. Last year, AOL acquired Quigo, a contextual advertising firm; TACODA, a behavioral targeting firm; Third Screen Media, a mobile advertising network and software provider; and AdTech AG, an international online ad-serving company based in Frankfurt, Germany. In 2006, AOL acquired Lightningcast, known for on-demand, live and downloaded video content across the Web. AOL acquired Advertising.com, which operates the largest third-party display network, in 2004.
While this could be a good thing for AOL, who in the battle of online advertising missed third place by a few points, they are still working on making a viable business model for them to compete online.
The financial terms of the agreement were withheld.
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