Adobe buying Omniture: is this the Universal Cookie?

Adobe on Tuesday announced a $1.8B dollar acquisition of Omniture. At the outset, the acquisition seems odd. I think of Adobe as a software company for creative types; and Omniture as the top dog in analytics. Both have different business models and very different customers.

But as you start peeling the onion layers, the acquisition starts making sense.

• Advertisers and ad agencies want to understand which video content is performing the best i.e. measure the CTRs for online ads that use flash. With both companies under the same umbrella, Adobe hopes to sell more of Omniture’s products to its existing customer base. One analyst noted during the Q&A that “all Omniture customers are probably Adobe customers, but not the other way around,” leaving a large customer base to which Adobe can push its wares.
• But that’s not all. Imagine if every flash player that is used for rich media apps or social media content also starts tracking and reporting usage. Will Adobe embed a tracking cookie into each flash player to create a new measurement standard? Given flash’s usage and dominance, we will have a universal cookie tracking each user’s online activity and allowing more behavioral targeting.

Well, the “privacy police” will certainly be watching.

Some other interesting reads on this

• Thoughts on Adobe + Omniture
• Adobe devours analytics firm, is your data the dessert?
• Adobe Analysis of Omniture: pass the cigars, its a buy
• Was the Adobe-Omniture merger a bad idea?

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/guptanitinonline

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