Sprinklr acquires Nanigans' social ad business amid ad tech consolidation

Brief:

Social media analytics firm Sprinklr acquired the social advertising business of marketing software vendor Nanigans as the ad tech industry consolidates. The acquisition includes Nanigans' data management, predictive analytics, optimization, campaign management and granular real-time reporting for ads on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, per an announcement.
The combined businesses will manage more than $1.5 billion of yearly ad spend among social media channels including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Many former Nanigans employees are joining Sprinklr, which didn't specify the exact number. Nanigans will maintain ownership of a business that measures the effectiveness of advertising. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

Insight:

With the transaction, Sprinklr is expanding in performance advertising that makes up about 62% of U.S. internet ad revenue, per an estimate by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PwC. Performance advertising is a form of advertising in which the purchaser pays only when there are measurable results, such as online sales or app installs. The deal also comes as retailers are funneling more of their online media budgets to social media advertising and driving social commerce sales.

Sprinklr's acquisition of Nanigans' social advertising business comes several months after the advertising software vendor was reported to be seeking a buyer for the unit. Nanigans was an early Facebook marketing partner that helped advertisers to manage their ad campaigns on the social network. Since then, Facebook has steadily expanded the capabilities of its in-house ad-buying tool, Ads Manager, while also reducing access that ad tech firms have to its platform amid a stronger commitment to protecting user privacy, Business Insider reported.

The acquisition comes as the ad tech industry consolidates after years of rapid growth that fostered startups, many backed by venture capital. Accenture Interactive a year ago bought Adaptly, a competitor to Sprinklr that helps to buy ads among digital platforms such as Google, Facebook and Amazon. SocialCode, another digital media marketing company, bought Marketplace Strategy to add expertise in Amazon marketing.

Sprinklr also has been acquisitive, buying companies such as Dachis Group, TBG Digital, Branderati, Pluck, Scup, newBrandAnalytics, Postano.com, Booshaka and Little Bird, according to data compiled by Crunchbase. Sprinklr had 1,300 employees and 1,500 clients as of January. At the time, Sprinklr CEO Ragy Thomas predicted that 80% to 99% of marketing technology firms would go out of business amid further consolidation, he said in an interview with Business Insider.