Cox Enterprises Inc. agreed to buy Adify Corp. for $300 million in cash as a way of helping the company’s web sites pool their ad space. “Adify’s commitment to customer service and innovation in powering vertical advertising networks for its customers has been key to its success and is a great match for Cox, a company that has served the advertising community for over a hundred years through its various media platforms,” said John Dyer, executive vice president of finance at Cox Enterprises. “As part of Cox, they will continue serving the media industry with their spirit of entrepreneurship, innovation and service. We’re confident the advertising community, web entrepreneurs and many of our own companies will directly benefit from our new association.” Adify’s technology platform will help Cox’s Web sites more successfully sell higher-priced ads targeted at specific audiences. Adify helps media companies form networks of Web sites around parenting, travel and other topics, allowing marketers to reach readers on dozens or hundreds of like-minded sites through a single buy. Adify already runs several ad networks, including a lifestyles-focused one for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. and a network of hundreds of independent financial blogs assembled by the online unit of Forbes Inc. Cox is exploring its own specialty ad networks around such Web properties as cable TV's Travel Channel, the AutoTrader.com classifieds site and the Kudzu local search portal.

Several news outlets reported late last month that David Verklin, CEO of Aegis Media Americas and one of the advertising industry's most visible and outspoken figures, will take over Project Canoe, being created by several MSOs to create a universal set of metrics for video on demand services. Verklin is stepping down from Aegis at the end of this year. Almost a fifth (17.5%) of General Motors’ customers say TV influences their auto purchase, but GM spent 40% of its $3 Billion-plus ad budget on TV ads in 2006 (proportions similar to other leading automakers’), according to a study by BIGresearch. To be sure, automakers are beginning to shift more of their ad dollars to the digital advertising. But those moves may not be going far enough, according to the BIGresearch research. Because such a large portion of ad dollars were allocated to TV, automakers in under-spent on other forms of media, such as newspaper, magazines, radio and the internet, BIGresearch said. For example, Ford spent only 5.89% of its budget on newspaper advertising, which influences 16.5% of its customers. “Automakers are making advances in a consumer-centric media world by integrating new media into their advertising strategy,” said Gary Drenik, president of BIGresearch, in a prepared statement. “However, when you look at which media their customers say influences them to purchase a car, they are over-allocating ad dollars on TV and under-spending on Internet, outdoor, radio and print.”