Google has confirmed the acquisition of Invite Media, a display advertising company that helps connect buyers and sellers of display advertising.
Search advertising pays the bills at Google, but it has targeted display advertising as a growth opportunity for several years, starting with its acquisition of DoubleClick. Google announced the Invite Media buy on its DoubleClick blog Thursday, after MediaMemo reported news of the pending acquisition Wednesday for around $70 million.
Invite Media allows ad buyers to bid in “real-time” on available ad inventory through ad exchanges, like the one Google has set up through its DoubleClick subsidiary. Google was careful to note that Invite’s technology can and will be used to buy ad inventory through other exchanges in addition to the DoubleClick Ad Exchange launched last fall.
“We’re excited by the huge potential of real-time bidding and display advertising,” said Neal Mohan, vice president of product management at Google, in the blog post. The Invite buy is just the latest in a long string of Google acquisitions in 2010, which shows no signs of slowing down.
