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Pelmorex Corp., owner of The Weather Network, on Tuesday said it had purchased Toronto-based Addictive Mobility, a 'mobile-first' data-management and automated media-buying platform.Leonard LePage/The Canadian Press

The company that owns the Weather Network is getting into a new type of forecasting: using data about who is looking at its media properties – and what they've been up to online – to help advertisers predict the best way to reach potential customers.

Oakville-based Pelmorex Corp. on Tuesday said it had purchased Toronto-based Addictive Mobility, a "mobile-first" data-management and automated media-buying platform touted as the largest company of its kind in Canada, with 50 employees. Terms were not disclosed.

Pelmorex president and CEO Sam Sebastian – formerly head of Google's Canadian operations – said Addictive is "not a massive acquisition" in terms of the price. But he added "it is an incredibly strategic one" as Addictive's platform will allow Pelmorex's online weather information channels and websites, including Eltiempo in Spain and MétéoMedia for French-speaking Canadians, to more effectively manage digital advertising efforts online and collect data to better inform campaigns by its advertisers.

Addictive, launched in 2010 when mobile advertising was in its infancy, uses a mobile-data-management software platform called Constellation that can track behavioural patterns associated with particular smartphones to identify, track and build mobile audiences for advertisers, according to its website. Using machine-learning artificial intelligence algorithms, its software can analyze how smartphone users interact with digital advertisements, assess their mobile Web behaviour and track what locations they visit throughout the day. "This, in combination with device ID data, enables us to reach the right person, at the right place, with the right message," Addictive says on its website. The company was recently ranked as one of the fastest-growing firms in Canada, and earlier this year it hired La Presse's former managing director of operations and production, Shannan LaMorre, to serve as its vice-president of operations.

The Big Brother-like precision targeting effectiveness of mobile advertising may still be a shock to many consumers, but is familiar to Internet giants like Google and Facebook, which now dominate online advertising. "I understand how Google and Facebook were the only game in town," Mr. Sebastian said, citing his own experience at Google. "I just don't think that's healthy over time. …We have a good opportunity to be the next best local alternative for [online and mobile] advertising."

Over its 28 years, Pelmorex has transformed from a pay-TV provider of weather information to an increasingly online business, generating upwards of 70 per cent of its $100-million-plus in revenue from Web and mobile platforms. The company, which has started using its troves of weather data to help advertisers craft and launch time-sensitive campaigns, expects the share of its mobile business to climb further with the broad adoption of artificial intelligence-enabled voice-based searches.

With its online shift, the company has started defining itself as the next most relevant advertising platform for advertisers after Facebook and Google, given the high traffic it gets in its core markets of Canada and Spain from people looking for the latest weather information. According to comScore, Pelmorex's mobile apps were the fourth most visited in Canada in August by Canadians aged 25 to 54, trailing only Google, Facebook and Apple.

Pelmorex also has operations in India and Britain and has been eyeing further global expansion opportunities.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer says the U.S. got a head start by making public a list of NAFTA priorities months ahead of Canada.

The Canadian Press

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