Yahoo buys app analytics firm Flurry

Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer has said the firm needs to work harder to stem advertising declines

Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer has said the firm needs to work harder to stem advertising declines.

Yahoo has acquired an app analytics firm, Flurry, to help boost its advertising revenue from smartphones.

“With Yahoo, we will have access to more resources to speed up the delivery of great products that can help app developers build better apps, reach the right users, and explore new revenue opportunities” Simon Khalaf – Flurry

Flurry helps app developers analyse data about their users and deliver more personalised ads to them.

Some of Yahoo’s rivals have also bought mobile advertising technology firms in an attempt to lure marketers to their apps, as well as generate revenue from ads on other company’s apps.

The two firms did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.

However, some reports indicated that Yahoo paid between $200m and $300m (£117m and £ 175m) to acquire Flurry, making it one of Yahoo’s biggest acquisitions since it acquired blogging platform Tumblr in 2012.

Revenue boost?

Yahoo’s deal comes just days after it reported that its profit fell by 18% to $270m during the three months to the end of June.

Revenues at the internet giant also fell 3% to $1.08bn.

Most of the decline was due to a sharp drop in digital display advertising, which plunged 8% in the second quarter.

However, it said that its mobile display and search revenue each grew more than 100% during the period, from a year ago.

On Monday, the two firms said that by joining forces they will be able to better serve their customers and boost mobile revenues further.

“With Yahoo, we will have access to more resources to speed up the delivery of great products that can help app developers build better apps, reach the right users, and explore new revenue opportunities,” Simon Khalaf, chief executive of Flurry, said in a statement.

“Over the last six years we have accomplished a lot on our own, but with Yahoo we are in an even better position to achieve our joint goals.”

According to its website, Flurry works with more than 170,000 developers, picking up data from 150 billion app sessions each month, to provide information to app publishers about their audiences, app usage and performance.

Focus on mobile

The global demand for smartphones has surged in recent years and an increasing number of people are accessing the internet via handheld devices, rather than the traditional desktop computers.

That has prompted internet firms such as Yahoo, Twitter, Google and Facebook to come up with strategies to increase their revenues from mobile devices.

Earlier this yearFacebook acquired LiveRail – a tech start-up that helps companies place more relevant ads in the videos that appear on their websites and apps.

The firms did not reveal the financial terms, but some reports indicated that Facebook paid between $400m and $500m to buy the firm.

Meanwhile, Twitter acquired MoPub mobile advertising exchange last year.

MoPub acts as a mediation service, allowing marketers to manage the placement of ads across several networks, including Facebook’s.

At the same time, Google’s AdMob and Apple’s iAds platforms and several other smaller firms are also competing to provide the adverts shown on mobile phones and tablets.

Source BBC News

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