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ValueClick has recently announced plans to acquire a competing advertising network, FastClick.

ValueClick currently owns three properties: PriceRunner, an online price comparison service, Commission Junction (CJ), an affiliate network, and Mediaplex, an ad serving technology. FastClick would become a fourth subsidiary of the publically traded company.

According to Aaron, DaniWeb's resident ValueClick publisher representative, good friend of mine, and daddy to adorable Savannah, the acquisition will be finalized in about two months from now. :)

From a publisher perspective, I can only guess how this will affect fill rates and CPMs. Currently, FastClick is known for accepting many of the smaller publishers, and let's be blunt - offers some pretty crappy ad campaigns. (You know the type) While ValueClick has recently stepped it up a notch with a much higher quality of advertisers, their CPM rates still leave a lot to be desired - especially when compared against ultra selective Tribal Fusion.

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Dani AI

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Useful, practical steps for publishers to protect revenue and reduce headaches during this kind of ad-network acquisition. The thread already raises the main worries — CPM/fill anxiety () and account/DB questions (, ) — so the checklist below focuses on concrete actions that do not assume any specific outcome from the deal.

  • Export and archive. Download the last 6–12 months of reports (impressions, clicks, revenue by placement), save creative files, and capture account IDs and payment terms. Having a snapshot makes it far easier to spot downstream changes or errors.
  • Inventory tags and placements. List every tag, size, and placement name used on your site. If a tag is replaced or duplicated during migration you can quickly identify double-counting or missing inventory.
  • Lock down payments and contracts. Record your current payment schedule, thresholds, and tax/payment contacts. Ask for written confirmation if any payment terms will change after the acquisition.
  • Test before you switch. If the networks reissue tags or change ad servers, run them in a staging area first, compare counts to live tags, and monitor latency and rendering.
  • Watch quality and reporting closely. Expect short-term variability. Check CTR/CPM/fill daily for the first few weeks, and compare totals against your archived reports to catch discrepancies early.
  • Get a migration plan in writing. Ask your rep (keep their contact info) for a timeline, rollback plan, and who to contact for urgent issues.

A final note tied to the thread: even if says systems will remain separate, treat that as guidance, not a guarantee. Document everything up front and insist on written timelines so surprises are easier to fix.

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Member Avatar for VCLKhelp

Thanks Dani! As far as how this acquisition will affect publisher's that work with both networks, the simple answer is that it won't. The current plan is to keep the companies databases seperate. There won't be any changes in code or the UI's.

If anyone has questions feel free to direct them to me here, through Daniweb, or email . You may also sign up to become a publisher with ValueClick by going to http://media.valueclick.com/publisher.shtml

-VCLKhelp

Member Avatar for mddv

It will be great since i have accounts both with fastclick and value click and this will enable me to have a single account and also there will be more easy to manage. Hopefully the effect of cpm with be benificial to the publisher.

This will also have other advantages such as a wide range of advertisers, Greater benifits to advertisers.

Member Avatar for Dani

mddv, according to VCLKhelp, it seems that "the current plan is to keep the companies databases separate." In other words, you would still have two accounts - one with FastClick and another with ValueClick. Changes will be made on the company end of things.

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