(Newswire.net — March 2, 2016) — Do you remember your “Top 8?” Most people over the age of 20 do, as Myspace was the first major social media platform. The company has changed ownership many times over the last 12 years, and recently found a new home with Time Inc.
More specifically, Time Inc. acquired Myspace’s parent company, Viant, a major ad tech company founded by two brothers, Chris and Tim Vanderhook.
With the right collaborative efforts, Time Inc. should be able to use Viant’s specific advertising network to further their readership.
Time Inc.’s Business Plan
Time Inc. has some unique plans for their new acquisition. Viant is a $34 billion advertising company with more than 1 billion registered users. This fact can be harnessed to better target ad delivery to the right audiences, link devices and data to real people, and convert ad spending back to actual sales to close the ROI loop.
Time Inc. just enhanced their data capabilities, which is something that will bring substantial value to both platforms. “This acquisition is game changing for us,” said Time Inc. Chairman and CEO Joe Ripp. “Marketers are selecting media partners that have either data-driven capabilities or premium content; we will be able to deliver both in a single platform, and will stand apart from those that offer just one or the other. In other words, we will be able to deliver advertisers’ messages targeted to optimal audiences across all types of devices, along with the ability to measure ROI.”
Viant’s Collaboration Saved Them
Viant has done surprisingly well, but they were in need of capital to continue their efforts. They began fundraising, but discovered that it was more than just funds that would change their interactions. “Money is fine and there’s lots of private equity groups with available capital, but really what we needed was a strategic that we could pair up with,” says Tim Vanderhook, CEO of Viant.
That’s where Time Inc. comes in. Viant has the data, and Time Inc. has the high quality, well-respected content that will carry their interactions to the next level. “Being able to leverage this data now in such a high-quality environment of the 60 digital properties Time Inc. has that reach in the US over 120 million people every single month,” Vanderhook continues. “Being able to take this first-party dataset and marry that with a premium content environment, we saw as a game-changing opportunity.”
Will We See a Resurgence of Myspace?
The short answer is yes, but it won’t be the same. The company plans to make it more of a publishing platform than a social network. “When I say premium content I’m really talking about storytelling, high-quality editorial that’s representative of Time Inc.,” says Vanderhook. “Myspace is a great publishing platform, it has incredible potential to distribute content across its network and in the social graph that exists across there.”
Vanderhook also discussed how Myspace is a wealth of first-party data, including user accounts, email addresses, photo uploads, and user-generated content. Through that data, the two companies plan to develop content that their audience actually wants to read, which will bring them closer to their audience.
This kind of collaboration, using both data and high quality content, will lead to more measurable ROI, deeper consumer-company relations, and the resurgence of an advertising and content publishing platform that has the power to take over the media.