Digital River to Acquire Direct Response Technologies - DirectTrack
If you know the players and some of the behind the scenes info - this could be pretty big news for the affiliate marketing industry. Will be interesting to see this play out. I could make some hunches about other moves Digital River may make… but I wont! 
The Digital River oneNetwork Affiliate Program has been doing massive advertising since they launched and is managed by PartnerCentric a leading affiliate management consulting firm who also happens to be a 5 Star Affiliate Programs client. Digital River also owns the successful and popular RegNow network, but seems to me to be moving most of their energy over to promoting the new oneNetwork brand. oneNetwork 2.0 just happens to be powered by DirectTrack.
Adotas » DirectTrack Snapped Up by Digital River Digital River, Inc, a global leader in e-commerce outsourcing, will announce this afternoon that it has acquired affiliate/e-marketing technology leader Direct Response Technologies. The acquisition will offer the affiliates and clients of both companies a significantly expanded online sales network and more robust affiliate tracking, search-engine bid management and keyword tracking, and ad-serving solutions.”
#1 Linda Buquet - AM Consulting and PR wrote on Wednesday, January 25th, 2006:
Just got this email from Jason Wolfe the CEO of DRT:
Dear Linda:
I am writing with exciting news about some changes at Direct Response Technologies – changes aimed at delivering more benefits and growth opportunities for your online business.
Today‚ Digital River (NASDAQ: DRIV)‚ a global leader in e–commerce outsourcing‚ announced that it has acquired Direct Response Technologies. The acquisition includes our DirectTrack‚ KeywordMax‚ DNEList and DirectLeads technologies. (The acquisition excludes Direct Response’s MyCoupons and GiftCards.com services.) As we begin to work on integrating our two companies‚ we wanted you to be aware of what you can expect moving forward.
First‚ let me assure you that we plan to provide you the same level of service you have come to expect from Direct Response. Your Direct Response teams will continue providing you updates‚ enhancements and customer support for your services from our Pittsburgh‚ Pennsylvania‚ headquarters. As a newly combined company‚ Direct Response now will operate as a wholly–owned subsidiary of Digital River.
I started Direct Response in 1994 and over the years have seen the market evolve. We have been true survivors in this market. As many of you know‚ I started this business with pennies in my pocket and a dream to have a centralized marketing toolset and massive media reach. I am pleased to announce that as a result of the acquisition‚ we are one step closer to that dream today.
The reasoning behind our decision to join forces with Digital River is sound. Direct Response has built world–class affiliate and ad–serving technologies (ranked as the #1 solution two years in a row by AdBumb readers)‚ coupled with keyword bid management tools‚ suppression list applications‚ and open network–to–network CrossPublication capabilities. We have grown exponentially over the past several years‚ in terms of clients‚ revenues and technological leadership. However‚ we believe that providing a consolidated media toolset along with a massive marketplace for product and service distribution was the complete goal for not only our firm‚ but also many others participating in this space.
Through the acquisition by Digital River‚ Direct Response clients and networks will have access to thousands of software titles for distribution and CrossPublication across our network of 200‚000 affiliates. In addition‚ Digital River owns two very important pieces in the marketing toolset that Direct Response simply does not possess – Blue Hornet’s e–mail delivery tools and FireClick’s web analytic tools. With the addition of these tools‚ our client base will have access to a fully consolidated media toolset – a tool set that includes affiliate marketing and tracking‚ a global e–commerce engine and suite‚ e–mail marketing and tracking‚ web analytics‚ keyword bid management‚ fraud detection and prevention‚ and suppression list management technologies. That’s power.
After evaluating many opportunities and alternatives‚ it was clear that the Digital River partnership was the way for Direct Response to realize our dream‚ while sharing it with several other sister groups with similar goals.
Should you have any questions about this announcement‚ please feel free to contact your account executive or me personally at jason.wolfe@directresponse.com. We at Direct Response appreciate your business and will continue working to earn your trust as part of a larger organization committed to growing your online business.
Sincerely,
Jason Wolfe
President / CEO
Direct Response Technologies, Inc.
http://www.directresponse.com