Hitwise acquired by Experian — a great move!

Hitwise, the web reporting company, has been acquired by Experian, the credit reporting company, for $240 million. I think this move makes great sense for Experian. Most consumers know Experian for their credit reporting services. But some know that Experian sells a lot more than that. I came across Experian and their marketing solutions about 4 years ago when they approached me about adding data to my customer database. It was quite impressive on the amount of data that they could add which would allow me to take my segmentation strategies to a whole new level.

The fear I have is that, while not tracked currently, Experian could attach your web browsing record with your credit record. For example, Jane has a 750 FICO score and a 2.6/6 browsing record. Jane has visited adult sites at least 2x this week. Etc. Otherwise, the purchase makes great sense.

Andy notes, "Experian is hoping to provide more internet intelligence to its client base, and the acquisition of Hitwise will help it do that, and more. While you may know Hitwise from all of their great analysis of web trends and site traffic, the company does a lot more than simply issue fancy charts. Collecting and aggregating information from 25+ million web users around the world, Hitwise watches more than a million sites and has more than 1200 clients including, Google, eBay, AXA and CBS News."

Marshall has some great insight into the role of blogging in the acquisition. He notes, "I'm sure the smart blogging strategies Hitwise employed were just some of many factors leading to the company's acquisition for $240 million, but I think company blogging and these bloggers (LeeAnn Prescott and Heather Hopkins) in particular deserve some serious recognition."