Microsoft to buy web ad firm Rapt

Microsoft has announced plans to acquire web ad analysis company Rapt for an undisclosed sum.

Rapt is used by online publishers to manage ad-inventory sales. Microsoft intends to integrate the technology into its Atlas Publisher Suite, which is part of the firm's Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group.

This will allow Microsoft to round out the product suite it gained when it acquired aQuantive in May last year for US$6 billion.

The company intends to offer a complete integrated toolset including workflow tools, ad package and delivery, content partnerships and yield management and optimisation.

"Online publishers have a complex array of needs, and require more attentive and sophisticated partners to help them solve these challenges," said Brian McAndrews, senior vice president of the Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group at Microsoft.

A key product that will emerge from the marriage of Rapt's planning capabilities and Atlas' campaign management capabilities is an integrated publisher sales workflow application.

This aims to help publisher's sales teams when used with Rapt's existing pricing analytics, inventory management and business intelligence products on top of Atlas' ad serving platform.

"The recipe is going to be different for every publisher and we want to give publishers an à la carte menu," added Scott Howe, general manager of the Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group at Microsoft.

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