There are rumors going around the tech-street, though not confirmed from reliable sources it seems legitimate enough. Rumours have it that Opera Software has purchased or is on the final stages of purchasing the mobile video advertising startup AdColony.
TechCrunch made a follow up on these rumors and contacted Opera representatives both in the U.S and Europe. The company reply was that they will not give comments on rumors, while AdColony has yet to give their response to TechCrunch’s follow ups. But other sources say that the deal is nearly complete, while other sources say that the price tag for this acquisition runs into the low hundreds of millions (around $275 million). It is believed that AdColony employees were first given a “heads up” on the company being bought by Opera last weekend.
Opera has made itself a formidable brand when it comes to web browsing software for mobile phones, PCs and connected TVs. Opera’s strongest selling point on mobile devices is its compression algorithms, that Opera promises gives users faster download speeds while using less data and hence being cost-effective for browsing.
Like its competitors, Opera has diversified into other business lines in order to monetize its software. Such business lines include mobile advertising network and app storefront. The former is run under the Opera Mediaworks brands that include:
- Apprupt – A German startup focusing on rich media advertising.
- AdMarvel – Opera acquired this back in 2010.
Prior to this rumoured acquisition of AdColony, Opera has already acquired eight other different companies; a good number of which being in the advertisement business. So it is easy to see these rumours doing rounds as something more substantial than just mere rumors. In addition to the fact that Opera’s acquisition of AdColony could give a big boost to Opera’s network into video ads.
AdColony was launched back in 2011 with a backing from Insight Venture Partners, with a big emphasis on performance. Whenever AdColony’s executives met, they emphasized on coming up with newer ways to show off just how speedy in loading time their video ads are.
That is an area where Opera with its compression technology used in its browsers to reduce dataload and pageload, could boost even further. Especially given Opera’s increasing interest in connected TVs; now you can see why a video-focused app acquisition makes a lot of sense to Opera. Conventionally, video ads command higher rates, and this is another opportunity for Opera to sell more to its clients. AdColony announced in January that they had reached a $100M revenue run rate.
The company has fallen victim for delivering its ads over iOS devices. Apple has recently been making changes on ads in apps, and has begun rejecting apps offering rewards for its video views and shares on social media.
