NetRatings Inc. has bought DoubleClick Inc.'s @plan products for $18.5 million in cash and stock.
The deal also included a multi-year research partnership that folds online research company Nielsen/NetRatings and @plan research data into DoubleClick's ad management products and services.
With the acquisition, Milpitas, CA-based NetRatings can use @plan's online consumer survey data to enhance clients' marketing strategies. User lifestyle, demographic and attitudinal information will now be available. The @plan product line includes more than 200 clients, existing contracts, technology, historical data and other "related intellectual property," according to a DoubleClick statement.
Under the data license and integration agreement, @plan research will be offered as part of New York-based DoubleClick's DART and MediaVisor products. The two companies will also collaborate on the development of campaign-planning tools.
Online advertising company DoubleClick, which has been hard-hit by a soft advertising market, had announced plans in recent months to sell several of its divisions. In March, the firm sold its e-mail list services division to InfoUSA, Omaha, NE.
NetRatings last month paid $8.5 million for struggling rival Jupiter Media Metrix's Internet ad measurement division. The two companies called off merger plans earlier this year amid signs regulators would challenge the deal.
