Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), the popular microblogging company agreed to buy TapCommerce, a mobile advertising startup as part of its strategy to improve its mobile ecosystem for marketers, app developers and users.
According to people familiar with the transaction, Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) agreed to pay approximately $100 million to acquire TapCommerce, which the microblogging site considers as a leader in mobile retargeting and re-engagement advertising.
Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) said the acquisition of TapCommerce is another important piece of its vision. “Consumers are starting to use their phones not just to install and use apps, but for making purchases of both virtual and real-world products and services. Advertisers spend aggressively to get new users, but re-activating existing or previous users can provide just as attractive a return on investment,” according to Richard Alfonsi, vice president of global online sales of the microblogging company in a blog post.
Alfonsi further explained, “Programmatic buying is increasingly the method of choice for advertisers and brands who want to buy in mobile, because it allows for more granular targeting and messaging.” TapCommerce allows real-time programmatic mobile ad purchasing across multiple exchanges and it reaches more than 50,000 apps.
According to Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), combining TapCommerce with its own team enables it to offer mobile app marketers more robust capabilities of app re-engagement, tools and managed service solutions for real-time programmatic buying as well as better measurement capabilities.
In addition, Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) said the combination of TapCommerce with its other ad solutions, advertisers will be able to boost conversions and ROI with mobile consumers on and off its platform across the full user cycle from acquiring new users through app installs, to engaging existing users who already have the advertisers’ apps on their device.
Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) have been making acquisitions to boost its audience for advertisers including Namo Media, a roped in mobile ad specialist; and MoPub, a mobile advertising exchange.
Meanwhile, Brian Long, chief executive officer of TapCommerce wrote in a blog post, “Being a part of the Twitter team will allow us to dedicate more resources to developing our product and expanding our services, so that you can continue to deliver even more value from your campaigns.”
He added that the experience of the existing customers of TapCommerce will not change following the acquisition. According to him, the startup’s platform is already deeply integrated with MoPub.
