• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, October 15, 2014

On the heels of the TagMan acquisition in March, Ensighten on Wednesday announced that it has added Anametrix to its marketing tool chest. The platform analyzes data across paid, owned and earned media to help marketers make optimization decisions. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The two companies fill the gap in advanced modeling and predictive algorithms through technology that combines data from internal systems, and dozens of digital and offline sources traditionally stuck in silos, per Josh Manion, Ensighten founder and CEO. Combining the technology gives brands better insight that leads to improved optimization, personalization across all customer interactive channels, he said.

A variety of companies from social to search and display are pushing to build out high-quality analytics platforms to demonstrate the return on investment to advertisers. Macquarie Securities Analyst Ben Schachter makes it a point to call out this trend, especially in social media, in his latest U.S. Internet report.

As for Ensighten and Anametrix, the acquisition solves a time crunch. Manion said building a similar platform could take years. "The Anametrix team has been exclusively focused on this platform for four years," he said. "It's significantly more advanced than what we could build in the near term, and customers want that opportunity now."

Along with the technology, Ensighten acquired talent with a combined customer base that includes no more than a 10% overlap, per Manion. Both companies focus on large scale enterprise customers and sorting through complex data.

Anametrix has more than tripled its client base during the past year. Clients include news and entertainment media, automotive and ecommerce direct marketing organizations, and interactive communications agencies. Combined the companies have more than 350 clients worldwide.

Manion said the companies plan to invest in automated actions and alerts based on data. Pelin Thorogood, Anametrix president and CEO, said the company wants to make sure the tools are as accessible as possible. "We want to make the technology easy to use, so forecasting becomes second nature," she said. "It will make adoption much easier."