Bellevue-based TV ad measurement firm iSpot.tv on Monday announced it has acquired DRMetrix, an ad measurement firm headquartered in Temecula, California.
Sean Muller, iSpot's founder and CEO, said DRMetrix's eight employees are joining iSpot but don't have to relocate. Muller added that iSpot now has 280 employees in total and plans to add 50 more over the next year. Roughly 175 of the company's employees are based in Bellevue, where the company has over 60,000 square feet of office space.
"We like the team, and we like their knowledge and expertise in this area," Muller said.
The companies aren't disclosing the terms of the deal, but Muller said the transaction consisted of equity and cash.
DRMetrix focuses on what is called "direct-response" advertising, meaning the company measures whether ads asking consumers to call a number or visit a website get results. Muller said the acquisition will provide iSpot a stronghold into longer informercials; iSpot had focused more on shorter commercials in the past. DRMetrix will also help iSpot measure the success of personalized ads aimed at specific households.
iSpot was founded in 2012. The company's technology tracks live TV and streaming ads and measures the success of those ads through metrics like website visits, online purchases and app downloads. With DRMetrix, Muller said iSpot is gaining more than 100 new clients.
In January, iSpot acquired Ace Metrix, which is based in Los Angeles. At the time, Muller told the Business Journal iSpot had about 240 employees.
Moving forward, Muller said the company's growth will be a mixture of organic and inorganic, and the company is considering international expansion. He added that the company is planning on at least one or two more acquisitions over the next year. As for what types of companies iSpot is targeting, Muller said iSpot must stay focused on helping marketers make their ad investments more effective.
"We're looking at adjacent channels, so helping advertisers assess effectiveness in things other than linear and streaming TV," Muller said. "We're looking at companies that have specific capabilities that give us specific measurement capabilities that maybe were not covered well by us before."
