Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

Adobe Buys Web Analytics Firm Omniture for $1.8 Bln

Geoff Duncan
By

omnitureIf the words “monetize your Internet application” set off bells in your head, then Adobe has some news for you: the software giant has announced a deal to acquire Web analytics firm Omniture in a transaction worth $1.8 billion. Omniture may not be a household name in the consumer marketplace, but rest assured Omniture has been paying attention to consumer households. The company specializes in Web analytics, tracking that users see, click, hover over, linger on, ignore, love, and use in Web sites and Internet applications. Marketers and application developers use the data to evaluate how visitors use their sites and applications; that information, in turn, helps determine things like advertising rates, whether sites and applications get funded, or whether a marketing campaign is successful with the audience an advertiser is trying to reach.

Adobe plans to integrate Omniture’s analytics and audience measurement technologies into its content creation tools—no specific tools were mentioned, but it’s safe to say that Adobe’s Flash and Air technologies will be high on the list.

Recommended Videos

“Adobe customers are looking to us for solutions to deliver engaging experiences and more effectively monetize their content and applications online,” said Adobe president and CEO Shantanu Narayen, in a statement. “This is a game changer for both Adobe and our customers. We will enable advertisers, media companies and e-tailers to realize the full value of their digital assets.”

Related

Online analytics tracking is generally invisible to everyday Web users. Most of the technologies rely on loading URLs hosted by Web tracking firms, with the URL itself containing tracking information, such as a time stamp, what portion of a site or application a visitor is using, what sort of action they’re taking, and more. Thanks to Web 2.0 technologies like Ajax and JSON, analytics data can be reported back to tracking firms even when users just move their mouse over objects; in interactive technologies like Flash, any event which can trigger a script can also report analytics information. Analytics technologies are not inherently a violation of Web users’ privacy, but they are certainly open to abuse, and the data they collect is often used as the basis of behaviorally-targeted advertising, which is drawing increasing scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators.

Adobe’s acquisition of Omniture will not only enable the company to integrate Omniture tracking support directly into its content development tools, but will also set Adobe up with a revenue stream from offering Omniture’s tracking services to third parties looking to watch how people use their sites and applications. According to Omniture, their systems currently track more than a trillion transactions per quarter.

Adobe expects the deal will close by November, 2009; once complete, Omniture will operate as a new business unit within Adobe, with Omniture CEO Josh James working as a senior VP reporting to Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen.

Editors' Recommendations

Geoff Duncan
Geoff Duncan
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…
5 web browsers you should use instead of Google Chrome or Edge
Google Drive in Chrome on a MacBook.

Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge dominate the world of web browsers, but they’re not for everyone. Whether you want a browser that better respects your privacy or need an app that does things a little bit differently, you don’t have to stick to the usual suspects.

There’s a world of alternative web browsers out there if you want to give something new a try. Here, we’ve put together five excellent options, with each one bringing fresh new ideas to the table. So, if you’re sick of Chrome and Edge, take one of these browsers for a spin.
Arc
Easels let you pin live websites snippets, which can update themselves and be interacted with. Alex Blake / Digital Trends

Read more
Windows 11 Home usually costs $139 — but it’s only $30 today
Laptop sitting on a desk showing Windows 11's built-in Microsoft Teams experience

If you've recently bought yourself a new desktop or laptop, you're most likely using Windows 11 Home edition, which is still pretty good, but it does lock some features away that you can only get with the Pro edition. While they aren't completely necessary, they are nice to have, but the usual $200 cost of a Windows 11 Pro license means they aren't worth the cost. Luckily, there's a great deal from StackSocial that discounts Windows 11 Pro down to just $30, which constitutes a whopping 84% discount on the regular price. You better grab it quite too, because the sale is going to be ending soon.

Why you should buy Microsoft Windows 11 Pro
Most of the features that you'll find on Windows 11 Pro are targeted to, you guessed it, professionals, but that doesn't mean that you can't also take advantage of it. For example, while both versions of Windows 11 are pretty secure, Windows 11 Pro has extra security features. For example, the Pro version comes with Defender Application Guard, which is an additional level of security that protects your files even if your computer is stolen, and the BitLocker can directly lock your files so nobody can read them even if they can access them.

Read more
A Redditor ‘didn’t know’ about the Steam Deck, so they built their own
The homemade Ryzen Deck sitting on a desk.

It's hard to imagine that anyone interested in portable gaming hasn't heard of the Steam Deck, but one Redditor says they "didn't know" it existed. And because of that, they decided to build their own.

The 3D-printed contraption comes from Raven0606, who shared images of the completed handheld on the r/SBCGaming subreddit, which is dedicated to handheld emulators. The build took nine months to complete, and Raven0606 dubbed it the Ryzen Deck in honor of the Steam Deck (they found out about Valve's handheld halfway through the build process).

Read more