Ad Age's Top 10 Media Acquisitions of 2006
by Ashkan Karbasfrooshan

1 - Google (GOOG) buys YouTube: Google's stock market cap rose by $10B in the days leading up to the deal.  Google Video was nice and all, but YouTube it wasn't.  Today Google is the #1 in video, as it is in search.

2 - Microsoft (MSFT) buys Massive: Between XBOX and Massive and AdCenter, MSFT can start to talk about a market leadership position in video games, in-game advertising and online advertising; ok the last one not yet.  But Massive was a wise investment for MSFT, who sits on $40B in cash and whose stock has wobbled since 2000.

3 - Viacom (VIA) buys Atom Films: Viacom last year bought iFilm for $49M and we've learned from insiders, bureaucracy killed iFilm's potential.  When Jon Stewart told off the Crossfire folks, people rushed to iFilm, not YouTube.  But, Viacom is a big old media company and its integration killed iFilm's real potential.  But for $49M it was a steal, judging by hindsight.  Atom gives Viacom a play in animated films and what not, the price seems expensive, but multiples for online video rose quite a bit from 2004 to 2006, and as such, the price was somewhat normal.  Mainly, Viacom being a publicly traded company whose stock has languished, its management knew it needed to do something in the space after it lost MySpace to News Corp. (NWS) and YouTube to Google.

4 - Google buys dMarc: Google has to do a lot to diversify.  With $10B in the bank and a market cap of $150M, paying $100M to enter the radio ad business is not a bad move at all.  Radio is out of style, so it's the best time to invest.

5 - Viacom buys XFire: This was one of the best deals of the year, we give Viacom credit for buying XFire before the price got out of hand.  Virtual/multiplayer gaming will give them enormous opportunities in years to come.

6 - Comcast (CMCSA) buys Platform: This one was simple: Comcast used Platform as a client.  Instead of paying for it forever, it actually bought it and Comcast is now better positioned for online video.

7 - Sony (SNE) buys Grouper: This one could go down as a Napster/Bertelsmann deal.  Grouper was sued by Universal Music Group.  But Sony has become MSFT, the big corporation that can't get it right.  PS3 got nailed in the press and came out 6 months later than expected, its digital music strategy leaves the Walkman euphoric crowd gasping for air...

8 - Google buys Jotspot: As a stand alone deal, one wonders if this is really necessary, given that Google bought Blogger and then saw Wordpress take off.  Of course, Wikis will only rise in prominence, especially when bundled in vertical niches.  But, when lumped into Google's productivity suite featuring Spreadsheets, Word, etc., it makes a lot of sense.

9 - Animal Planet buys Petfinder: What is up with pets?

10 - Conde Nast buys Wired: A great offline publisher buys a great online brand.