TV Ad Placement Company Acquired

Navic Networks, a privately held company that provides technology to place interactive advertisements on cable and satellite TV systems, has been acquired by Microsoft for an undisclosed sum. With a current reach of more than 35 million TV set-top boxes, Navic helps expand Microsoft’s advertising platforms to television, where advertisers spend approximately US$80 billion per year—considerably more than they currently spend online. Navic will also help Microsoft stay abreast of Google, which is trying to transfer targeting and tracking technology from online advertising to TV.

Not Traditional TV Advertising

Before 2006, Microsoft’s online advertising strategy was limited in scope: the company sold advertisements on its own Web sites and online services with its own sales force and automated tools, such as adCenter. Since then, a string of acquisitions has dramatically increased Microsoft’s footprint in the advertising market: Massive (announced in May 2006) enabled Microsoft to place advertisements in Xbox 360 games, ScreenTonic (May 2007) added technology for placing advertisements on mobile phones, and aQuantive (May 2007) and AdECN (July 2007) gave the company a comprehensive set of software tools and services for online advertisers and third-party publishers. The Navic acquisition announced in June 2008 continues this expansion into TV.