Twitter buys TV analytics firm to explore TV

Twitter has confirmed that it has bought social TV analytics firm Bluefin Labs – a deal that was first reported yesterday – in order to further explore broadcast and TV advertising opportunities and further its analytics business.

Business Insider reported that the deal for four-year old BlueFun Labs, which has raised just over $20 million in funding, is priced at around $80 million, but Twitter did not confirm what it has paid. If Business Insider is right, the deal is Twitter’s biggest acquisition to date.

Last year Twitter inked a deal with Nielsen — the established social analytics firm that Bluefin Labs had sought to rival — to establish a TV ratings system based on tweets, and this acquisition will help further that set-up. Twitter says that Bluefin Labs will continue to service existing customers, but its core services will no longer be sold; instead, its Boston-based team will become a Twitter unit that develops “new ad products and consumer experiences in the exciting intersection of Twitter and TV”.

read more http://thenextweb.com/twitter/2013/02/06/twitter-confirms-it-has-bought-bluefin-labs-to-develop-its-tv-analytics-and-advertising-business/