Integral Ad Science acquires contextual ad firm ADmantX

Integral Ad Science has acquired ADmantX, a European firm that provides contextual data to advertisers looking for a "cookie-less" targeting solution.

The transaction will allow IAS to offer publishers and advertisers the ability to match ads with relevant online content at the page level, along with its suite of ad verification tools.

With increased data privacy concerns leading many big tech firms to degrade cookie targeting, contextual targeting is undergoing a renaissance. Through natural language understanding and machine cognition, ADmantX technology uses natural language understanding and machine cognition to label online content at scale, providing advertisers with the ability to target relevant content "without limiting reach", the company claims.

"The addition of our leading cognitive and linguistic intelligence technology to IAS will supply the industry with powerful and precise tools to drive ad adjacencies and increase customer engagement without limiting the scale and optimise publisher content inventories,” said ADmantX CEO Giovanni Strocchi of the acquisition.

IAS will integrate the ADmantX organisation into its business, which will result in the ADmantX brand being absorbed.

The ad verification unit said the acquisition not only grows its technical suite with patented technology, but will also bring preexisting relationships with brands and premium publishers worldwide.

IAS APAC managing director Stephen Dolan said offering a "scalable brand suitability solution" will help aid the company's APAC growth.

"The importance of contextual understanding has increased rapidly over the past few years. We’re very excited to offer brands a solution that allows them to confidently place ads in a brand suitable environment at scale - and for publishers, they are now empowered to better optimize their content and improve revenue models," Dolan said. "We are truly excited about the positive waves this acquisition will make, not only for our own clients but also for the industry as a whole."