News Corp to Buy Unruly Video Tracking Specialist

Rupert Murdoch's media group News Corp has agreed to acquire London-based video ad distribution and tracking platform Unruly, for an initial £56m and with potential for £56m more in future performance-related payments.

Since its launch in 2006, Unruly has tracked two trillion video views using its proprietary measurement platform and analytics dashboard, through which brands and agencies can measure the impact of their social media video strategies against their competitors'. In addition, the company uses historical sharing behaviour to predict the potential for video ads to go viral across all digital touch points. The firms employs 200 people in fifteen offices and regional hubs in London, New York and Singapore, and its primary base will remain in Shoreditch.

Led by Unruly's three co-founders (pictured), the company will operate as a separate business unit, reporting to Rebekah Brooks, CEO of News UK. In the coming months, News Corp business units will begin to offer Unruly products to their advertising and agency partners, while Unruly will continue to work with its existing roster of advertisers and publishers.

Commenting on the deal, Robert Thomson, CEO of News Corp, said: 'Unruly is a feisty and creative company with a start-up sensibility that fits perfectly with our own approach to developing businesses in the digital age. Unruly complements our traditional editorial and commercial expertise with contemporary insight into how people read, watch, buy and sell in the digital era'.

Web sites: www.newscorp.com and www.unrulymedia.com .