Webtrends just announced today that it had acquired social media application development solution Transpond for an undisclosed amount. See press release here.
Well, I certainly don’t really care about how much it cost; I just guess all involved parties paid and received something to their satisfaction. We certainly care more, as Web analysts and marketers, about what this acquisition is adding to Webtrends suite of products. At the time of writing this, I hadn’t had my phone meeting with Casey Carey, VP Product Development at Webtrends. However, my first reaction is “clever”; instead of selling out to a application developer as we have recently seen, Webtrends prefers to acquire such a company and bring the content production dimension to its analytics suite.
Is this acquisition launching a trend of integrating analytical capabilities with content generation? I don’t know (the IBM-Coremetrics was not in that spirit), but it certainly sends and reinforces the message of how analytics should be at the core of online Marketing, a fact many, many marketers don’t seem to grasp yet.
One can also wonder about how well Webtrends will be able to play in a different market. I didn’t know Transpond, its market, its competitive environment. Were they leaders? How many similar products are out there? Is their platform that easy to use? Will Webtrends simply offer it to its current customer base, or will they aggressively market their new application development product? The latter would certainly mean playing in a new environment, and be subject to yet new competition.
Time will tell. But for now, congratulations to all involved.
I really look forward to seeing Webtrends Apps in action!
Hi Jack (I mean, Jacques). I spoke with Casey today, as well. The very first question I asked is one that shows up as a theme in your blog post – content generation.
I asked Casey, “So, does this mean Webtrends is in the content creation business?” to which he responded (and I paraphrase), “No, we’re in the digital marketing campaign optimization business.”
Whether we agree on the terminology or not, the acquisition most certainly represents a shift for the business.
Indeed clever, same reaction as adobe, but in the other direction.
Abobe + omniture
Webtrends + transpond
Although not the same size/impact
@June
I couldn’t speak to Casey directly, but I had the same question for him. I watched Webtrends webinar today (August 12), and Webtrends Apps was very much presented as content production application that, by the way, has integrated measurement. I think it’s pretty cool that Webtrends is so agressively involved with measuring social media now. Did they have to go to the extent of buying such a product? I don’t know; time will tell of their ability to execute on that new market.
@Tom
You are right, defintely not the same size. I’m happy such moves send the measurement signal loud and clear!
Thank you both for commenting