DoubleClick

DoubleClick, established in 1995 by co-founders Kevin O'Connor and Dwight Merriman, emerged as a foundational entity in the internet advertising sector. The venture originated in O'Connor's basement, where he and Merriman conceived a system to serve banner ads across a network of websites while tracking their performance for targeted advertising. O'Connor, an electrical engineering graduate from the University of Michigan, had previously founded Intercomputer Communications Corporation (ICC), a company that connected PCs to mainframes, which he later sold. Merriman, a computer science graduate, worked with O'Connor at ICC and followed him to Atlanta, where DoubleClick was born.

The company's business model revolved around providing ad serving technology and services to a diverse clientele, including advertising agencies, mass media, and major corporations such as Microsoft, General Motors, and Coca-Cola. DoubleClick's core offering was the DART (Dynamic Advertising, Reporting, and Targeting) product line, designed to enhance advertisers' purchasing efficiency and help publishers minimize unsold ad inventory. This technology utilized cookies to monitor users' web-browsing habits, enabling the delivery of targeted advertisements. Revenue was generated by acting as a broker for selling banner ads and through its proprietary DART technology that determined which ads to deliver to individual users.

A significant milestone in the company's journey was its initial public offering in February 1998, trading under the ticker DCLK on NASDAQ. The company made several strategic acquisitions, including NetGravity in 1999, which was rebranded as DART Enterprise, and Performics in 2004, which added search engine marketing capabilities. A pivotal moment came in April 2007, when Google announced its agreement to acquire DoubleClick for $3.1 billion. This acquisition, finalized in March 2008, was a strategic move for Google to bolster its position in the display advertising market. In June 2018, Google rebranded its ad platforms, integrating DoubleClick's products into the Google Marketing Platform. For instance, DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) became Google Ad Manager, and DoubleClick Bid Manager was renamed Display & Video 360.

Keywords: ad serving, digital advertising, DART, ad network, banner ads, online advertising, ad technology, publisher tools, advertiser solutions, behavioral targeting, ad exchange, campaign management, media buying, programmatic advertising, Google Marketing Platform, display advertising, ad management, rich media, video advertising, ad optimization