Search marketing and performance outfit MIVA are the first to sign-up to cross-media search firm blinkx's Smart Ads Platform. A global distribution partnership, it marries key parts of their offerings for a better deal for consumers and advertisers, they say...

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MIVA, the independent performance marketing network and integrated multimedia search firm blinkx, the "smartest thing on your computer and on the Web", announced a global agreement on 5 November which will allow blinkx to deliver contextually targeted advertising to users, via the new blinkx Smart Ads Platform.

Under the terms of the deal, blinkx users will be able to link straight to geo-targeted, content-related paid-listings provided by MIVA. The blinkx toolbar and blinkx's video search engine, www.blinkx.tv have millions of users and the new Smart Ads Platform will allow blinkx to deliver targeted paid-listings from MIVA's extensive network to that audience.

Ads refelect users's current desktop activity

Traditional keyword advertising requires a search in order to generate a relevant ad. The Smart Ads Platform is unique in that it is able to understand the context of a user's current desktop activity and use that understanding to automatically link users to a relevant ad. This higher level of precision should benefit blinkx users and MIVA advertisers alike, delivering more targeted revenue opportunities to advertisers and a more focused experience for users.

"The partnership with blinkx extends MIVA's reach into the growing desktop search space on a global level, which enables us to introduce our advertisers to a greater variety of Internet users," said Seb Bishop, Chief Marketing Officer of MIVA. "blinkx's unique method of retrieving information from different sources is a perfect fit with MIVA's philosophy of allowing our advertisers to reach the right people at the right time, regardless of what they are doing on their computer."

Connecting buyers & sellers through context

Suranga Chandratillake, CTO and Founder, blinkx said: "We're pleased to launch our new Smart Ads Platform in conjunction with MIVA; the alliance provides a strong foundation upon which we intend to launch our revenue strategy."

"MIVA's strength lies in their ability to connect buyers and sellers at the right time," he continued. "Their creative approach, combined with blinkx's unique technology will provide a direct and, above all, highly relevant link between advertisers and users. blinkx is already re-defining search, we believe this partnership with the leading independent Performance Marketing Network, will allow us to re-define the economics of search."

It's certainly a bold claim, and an interesting advertising model, edging closer to the personalised vision of the internet once trumpteted so loudly. The industry will be keeping an eye on this deal, and wondering who's next to sign up for or to challenge the Smart Ads Platform...

About MIVA:
MIVA is a leading independent Performance Marketing Network, dedicated exclusively to helping businesses grow. MIVA connects millions of buyers with sellers at exactly the right place and time. MIVA delivers qualified leads to advertisers, helps maximise revenue for partners, facilitates commerce for online merchants and provides relevant information to customers. The Company has relationships with more than 100,000 customers, spanning North America, Europe and Asia.

About blinkx:
blinkx, "the smartest thing on your computer and on the Web", is changing the way that people think about search. Only blinkx can harness the desktop, Web and TV - unifying content with a one stop search tool. Available to users on the Web at www.blinkx.com and www.blinkx.tv, as well as free to download, blinkx automatically and intelligently links to content anywhere and in any format, on the Web, on the desktop and even on TV. blinkx's conceptual toolbar means users are no longer limited to keyword search; instead, blinkx assesses all the information that the user is actively viewing, and automatically recommends and retrieves relevant content, from local, Web and TV searches, based on context. In addition, www.blinkx.tv makes thousands of hours of TV content fully searchable and available on demand for the first time.