Experian has bought Internem marketing intelligence company Hitwise for $240 million. Companies like Quantcast and Compete are starting to offer some of the intelligence that corporations currently pay Hitwise for. What will happen when companies realize they can get most of the data from a free service instead of that hefty $20,000 a year contract?
Via Ben Barren, Mashable
Alarm:clock opines on the impending Hitwise IPO:
Hitwise is the classic sell shovels during gold rush story. Founded in 1997, based in NYC but global thanks to an Ausi CEO, Hitwise sells Internet analytics. We have been hearing rumors that company is planning an IPO that would value the company at $300M. It doesn’t seem far-fetched.
Through relationships with ISPs, Hitwise claims it captures anonymous online usage, search, and conversion behavior of 25M Internet users. Hitwise’s increase in revenues of 3,436% from 2001 to 2005 resulted in a 7th place ranking in Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 for New York. Hitwise is backed by Insight Venture Partners.
Judging by how Hitwise ranks sites, does this mean the valuation is really $200 million? 