by Andrew Redfern @ 6th February 2008 11:02 pm

AOL announced today that it has acquired buy.at, a leading independent affiliate network that provides a platform for performance based e-commerce marketing programs to advertisers and publishers. buy.at will operate as a wholly-owned business unit of Advertising.com, part of AOL's Platform-A organization.

“This transaction will position Advertising.com to serve merchant and retail advertisers with the industry’s most comprehensive set of e-commerce offerings,” said Lynda Clarizio, President of Advertising.com.

“By leveraging our web advertising network and search engine marketing services and now buy.at's innovative affiliate network we can provide advertisers a wide array of marketing solutions to drive sales and other transactions. We are looking forward to accelerating the expansion of buy.at's affiliate network in the United Kingdom, United States and other European countries.”

buy.at, recently named the UK's 9th fastest growing private technology company in the Sunday Times Tech Track, is an affiliate marketing network in which affiliates (publishers) partner with advertisers (merchants) to enhance sales growth by driving consumers to those companies’ websites. Unlike traditional display advertising or pay-per-click (PPC) models, an advertiser only pays when a visitor to its site takes action (such as making a purchase or signing up for a free trial).

buy.at has consistently been a leader in technology innovation and development, with recent releases such as its ContentEngine, which allows retailers to promote their products and offers dynamically on affiliate websites. buy.at was also the first network to launch an integrated affiliate solution for users of social networking sites, working with WAYN, the travel-focused social network. And through its buy.at leads division, the company sources high-quality consumer leads for merchants in the financial services industry.

The buy.at affiliate network was founded in 2002 and is backed by venture capitalists DFJ Esprit.

“The combination of Advertising.com and buy.at provides a significant opportunity for advertisers to leverage an expanded publisher base with even more tools and services, creating a unique offering in the market,” said Kevin Cornils, CEO of buy.at. “buy.at has always focused on providing top-class customer service and customized technology to leading retailers and e-commerce businesses and we are looking forward to extending that to Advertising.com's client base.

Planned investment from AOL and Advertising.com will also allow the buy.at affiliate network to continue its growth and to maintain and even accelerate its market-leading offerings of products and services for our existing clients as well.”

“Within this fast-paced environment, only networks that can grow, develop and innovate with their advertisers and publishers will continue to deliver higher levels of incremental revenue opportunities,” said Brendan Condon, Managing Director of Advertising.com International. “Advertisers are increasingly coming to realize that along side display and search engine marketing, affiliate marketing needs to be an important part of their online strategies. We are excited to begin working with buy.at as we continue to increase our network offerings in the UK and throughout Europe.”

The acquisition comes as affiliate marketing in the UK grew by an estimated 45% in 2007. According to research published in E-consultancy's Affiliate Marketing Networks Buyer's Guide, total affiliate marketing sales were more than £3 billion compared to £2.16 billion in 2006. This research continues to illustrate the increased acceptance by advertisers to embrace this form of marketing as a way to drive online sales.

With offices in London and Newcastle in the United Kingdom and in New York in the U.S., buy.at employs approximately 70 people and offers affiliate marketing in both the U.S. and UK and counts over 200 leading ecommerce businesses as its clients. Advertising.com also has operations in the U.S. and ten other countries, nine in Europe plus Japan. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

buy.at is the fifth advertising acquisition AOL has made in the past 12 months. Last year, AOL acquired Quigo, a contextual advertising firm; TACODA, a behavioral targeting firm; Third Screen Media, the leading mobile advertising network and software provider; and AdTech AG, the leading international online ad-serving company based in Frankfurt, Germany. In 2006, AOL acquired Lightningcast, a leader in delivering advertising solutions for on-demand, live and downloaded video content across the Web. AOL acquired Advertising.com, which operates the largest third-party display network, in 2004.

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