Mobile ad exchange Kargo acquires Parsec

Mobile ad exchange Kargo announced that it has acquired the attention-based mobile advertising company Parsec, for an undisclosed sum. 

With the acquisition, Kargo aims to expand the ability of advertisers to buy digital media using the time an ad is exposed on screen across a variety of unique creative formats, creating the only platform to deliver attention-based, optimized, digital advertising for marketers.

“Our mission is to create memorable experiences for consumers, in turn, creating more value for brands by building new ways for them to buy success. With Parsec, Kargo is the leader in attention, a key metric in experience-based advertising. Attention empowers brands to optimize their campaigns to what is engaging and where time is spent, not just what is seen,” said Harry Kargman, CEO and Founder of Kargo.

Kargo says its ad formats resulted in 2x purchase completion on product deal searches compared to standard banners and 2x stronger brand memory than standard banners. 

“At Parsec, we’ve always believed that attention is the single most important metric in advertising. We are confident that Kargo will continue to deliver the extraordinary brand impact that our clients have come to expect,” said Diane deCordova, co-founder and COO of Parsec Media.

Later in 2022, Kargo plans to expand from time-on-screen measurements to include a variety of machine-learning-based intelligence that will further optimize campaign performance. 

Parsec is Kargo’s third acquisition in less than three years. The company acquired Rhombus, an ad technology company focused on targeting social placements in articles, in August 2020, and acquired the e-commerce ad-tech company StitcherAds for $64 million in October 2021.