SAS Buys aiMatch for Ad Forecasting and Measurement

US-based business analytics giant SAS has acquired ad server technology platform aiMatch, in a bid to provide publishers with a solution to help manage, forecast, optimize and measure ad inventory. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

aiMatch's platform aggregates data sets and includes smart forecasting and fulfilment tools, along with business intelligence. The solution proactively identifies where the most availability exists by product, placement and/or revenue, including insight into who has purchased the inventory previously.

Through the acquisition, SAS says it will be able to extend its capabilities to advertisers and agencies, to help them decide where to advertise and how to optimize budgets. These newly acquired capabilities will complement existing solutions in the SAS Customer Intelligence suite.

Jeff Wood, former CEO of aiMatch, comments: 'Due to an explosion of data, the online advertising industry is in desperate need of better solutions to analyze and make use of all of the new information available to them. Combining aiMatch's intelligent decision and delivery engine with SAS' analytics and optimization capabilities provides a highly desirable solution to both of these problems.'

Web sites: www.sas.com and www.aimatch.com .