Adobe Acquires Web Analytics Company Omniture

You would probably be surprised to learn just how much Adobe Systems Inc., or more specifically their products, are a part of your everyday internet browsing experience. Ever hear of something called Flash? Today, Adobe announced they are going to become an even bigger part of your browsing with the acquisition of Omniture Inc., a company that monitors and analyzes Web traffic.

Adobe bought Omniture for a hefty chunk of change, $1.8 billion, which translates into $21.50 per share in cash. This move indicates just how determined Adobe is to find out how their products are used online. The details are scarce for the moment, but it appears Adobe has plans to integrate the stat tracking and analytics capabilities of Omniture into their main content-creation tools for the web, probably Dreamweaver and Flash but possibly extending into other programs from Adobe’s Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.).

Here is the official wording from the press release:

Adobe’s acquisition of Omniture furthers its mission to revolutionize the way the world engages with ideas and information. By combining Adobe’s content creation tools and ubiquitous clients with Omniture’s Web analytics, measurement and optimization technologies, Adobe will be well positioned to deliver solutions that can transform the future of engaging experiences and e-commerce across all digital content, platforms and devices.

The combination of the two companies will increase the value Adobe delivers to customers. For designers, developers and online marketers, an integrated workflow—with optimization capabilities embedded in the creation tools—will streamline the creation and delivery of relevant content and applications. This optimization will enable advertisers and advertising agencies, publishers, and e-tailers to realize greater ROI from their digital media investments and improve their end users’ experiences.

That excerpt makes it sound like Adobe is planning to create an even more comprehensive suite of content creation tools for internet business, a suite that would allow companies not only to create content but analyze how it performs and adjust accordingly. Adobe provided a handy, but benign little graphic to that effect, which you can see at the top of this post.

We’re interested to see if Adobe will be offering a comprehensive package with content creation tools coupled with web analytics services, or if Adobe simply has plans to offer tracking of Adobe-made content as a separate service arm of the company. Either way, you’re likely to see the company tracking just what you click on pretty soon.

The reasons behind the acquisition go beyond better tracking, though. Trip Chowdhry, analyst with Global Equities Research, pointed out that the Omniture deal would provide Adobe with new ways to create revenue. That’s an important thing to the company as the recession has affected sales of their relatively expensive software suites. Some companies have neglected to update to Adobe’s latest Creative Suite 4 while they wait for the economy to turn around.

It was a good deal for Omniture, too. Chowdhry said that Adobe paid almost twice what Omniture was worth because the company had been losing market share to Google Analytics recently. Google Analytics offers a free web analytics service that isn’t nearly as comprehensive as that of Omniture, but it’s hard for companies to justify the expense of Omniture when Google offers something serviceable for free.

The deal is supposed to close by November and will leave Omniture free to operate separately as an Adobe business unit.

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