DPG to acquire Viva9
Digital marketing business holding company, Digital Performance Group has brought its competitor affiliate network Viva9, to merge with its own affiliate network, dgm. The announcement:
SYDNEY, 31 AUGUST 2012: The Affiliate Marketing sector in Australia has received a major boost with today’s announcement that the Digital Performance Group (ASX: DIG) is to acquire Australia’s second largest affiliate network Viva9 and merge it with its own number one Australian affiliate network, dgm.
This acquisition establishes dgm as a clear leader in the affiliate channel, offering its clients expert advice and campaigns across comparison websites, coupons, cash-back sites, loyalty rewards, content and eDM databases.
“dgm and Viva9 have been the leaders in the Australian affiliate market for the past nine years and together have worked with the majority of finance, retail and telco advertisers investing marketing dollars via affiliate networks in Australia and New Zealand,” said Digital Performance Group’ managing director Chris Meehan.
“We expect there to be stronger growth in the affiliate channels particularly with the forecast strong growth in online retail as more retailers follow the international trend to launch online properties and shift more of their marketing dollars online,” he added. “Retail is now the number one vertical within online advertising in the USA, according to their IAB Report in June this year and most retailers credit Affiliate Marketing as one of their most effective marketing and acquisition channels. However we are only just starting to see this trend in Australia as retailers join the more advanced verticals using affiliate, such as Finance and Consumer Electronics and Telecommunications.
“In addition, the Viva9 lead generation network, and client relationships, will add further impetus to the rapid growth that DPG expects within its lead generation channel over the next 12 months.” DPG’s other business, Empowered Communications, also benefits from the deal, with a boost to its email database to 600,000. This means further capacity for Empowered to fulfil eDM campaigns as well as fulfilling research briefs. Meehan added: “We acknowledge the great relationships with key publishers and eDM suppliers that Viva9 has built over the years and we are looking forward to growing those relationships across a much broader customer base for the publishers to include.”
Source: DPG press release
