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Hitwise, the ISP information aggregator (aka. stats company), has been acquired by Experian, a global information solutions company, for a reported $240 million.
Hitwise, founded in 1998, has become a staple for comparative website statistical analysis. In an effort to expand their company's offerings capabilities, Experian is acquiring Hitwise to add more value for their clients. As many of Experian's client companies increasingly push their mass marketing to online solutions as opposed to direct mail and traditional media, Experian is looking to provide the unique behavioral research data for online consumers that Hitwise collects. This will allow for better, more targeted marketing via the web by Experian's clients, and better position themselves against competition.
Market research for online activity is becoming more and more important as measuring techniques improve, and user-submitted information becomes more commonplace, making companies like Hitwise, DoubleClick and StumbleUpon more valuable than ever. People are spending more money in e-commerce, and Internet activity is becomming thouroughly engrained in our everyday culture, so marketing directives that involve an online audience are key for ad campaigns that have used traditional media outlets.