So, Akamai buys aCerno for $95MM and launches an ad targeting business. It might confuse people — CDN to ad targeting business isn’t a natural leap unless you know how the sausage is made — but it’s a smart business move that should produce some nice boosts in ad performance.
My only question — how will Akamai’s client base react? If I were a publisher, I’d want to be 100% sure that my competitors’ highly-targeted and highly effective ads weren’t a hidden side-effect of my CDN contract — that’s the online marketing equivalent of being shot with your own handgun. And if Akamai starts making a lot of money from its ad targeting services, thanks in part to the data I provide, I’d be looking for my CDN bill to drop.
