Technorati Acquired AdEngage And Launching a Self-Service Advertising Network

Technorati today announced that they are launching a private alpha of Technorati Engage, a self-service advertising network for blogs and social media sites. In June, technorati launched Technorati Media, it’s own ad network. At the end of August, they acquired BlogCritics, a great site and community of blog authors.

As per the announcement:

“With Technorati Engage, advertisers can very easily achieve the necessary levels of targeting and critical mass.

To help power this new platform, we’ve acquired AdEngage, an online advertising network and advertising exchange.

AdEngage has been running since 2004, serves more than 12 billion ad impressions across more than 4,000 sites, and has grown rapidly each year since its inception. They’ve established a good reputation with publishers: dependable, accessible, and they pay on time. They’ve built an interface that is very easy to use for advertisers and publishers.

Most importantly, AdEngage was founded by the publisher of an independent site, who was fed up with his ad network, expressly for publishers of independent sites. It’s designed from the ground up with your challenges in mind.

So when will all of this happen?

First we’re launching the Technorati Engage private alpha, which offers AdEngage’s existing text and PhoText products. Next month, with the public beta launch, we’ll add a 125x125 square, which is one of the leading ad formats in the blogosphere. We’ll quickly move to full display capabilities, with the most popular IAB display ad sizes becoming available for Q1.

How will this work?

You simply enter into the exchange, are reviewed to ensure your site meet Technorati’s content quality standards, and your inventory is made available. We’re reviewing and evaluating the applying blog and social media sites before they are accepted, as well as only giving access to qualified advertisers, to ensure a safe place for brand and engagement marketing. Advertisers are then able to directly target, buy, create, and see the performance of their ads. You can sign up now and come back and grab the ad code next month.

While Technorati Engage will focus on blogs and social media, AdEngage will continue to operate as a standalone entity and grow its existing business with its current self-serve advertising network.“