While everyone waits to see what move Microsoft is going to 
make in the red-hot display advertising M&A frenzy of the last several weeks, AOL (sister company of my employer, comments herein are mine only and do not represent any opinion but my own) has announced the acquisition of ADTECH AG today, a Frankfurt-based online ad serving technology company that produces a product known as Helios IQ in ASP versions for publishers, agencies and email marketing. This comes hot on the heels after yesterday’s announcement of mobile ad network vendor Third Screen Media. The press release indicates that ADTECH will roll up under AOL’s ad network subsidiary, Advertising.com, acquired in 2004. It will be interesting to see how AOL may use this new company. A Clickz.com story summarizes it like this:
It is unclear how the AdTech grab will affect AOL’s relationship with DoubleClick. DoubleClick extended its ad management partnership with AOL in April 2005, winning business across all AOL Media Networks properties including AOL.com, AOL Instant Messenger, CNN, Mapquest and Moviefone.
Although Clickz notes that this arrangement includes CNN, the AOL Media Networks do not include CNN and have not since 2005.
The story goes on to discuss the sense that this may herald a change in this relationship, especially in light of Google’s acquisition of the company. ADTECH only entered the US market around one year ago, but Clickz hypothesizes that if Helios provides all the requirements of AOL, a change in their DoubleClick relationship could be in the works. They also note that it might take years, like their last transition, to make that change.
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