Hachette Filipacchi Media Takes Jumpstart for a Ride

Hachette Filipacchi, the publisher of Car and Driver, Road & Track and Cycle World magazines, and a subsidiary of Lagardère, is acquiring Jumpstart Automotive Media, a vertical advertising network focused exclusively on the automotive industry.

Jumpstart is apparently assuming the online advertising sales of CarandDriver.com, RoadandTrack.com and CycleWorld.com, and that’s on top of its current customer base of NADAguides.com, Vehix, JD Power & Associates Autos, How Stuff Works/Consumer Guide Autos, Shopping.com Auto, which are five of the top automotive sites in the U.S.

And considering that Jumpstart’s advertiser client base includes all the auto manufacturers and over one thousand auto dealerships and dealer groups, Hachette Filipacchi cash payment of $84 million, along with an possible $26 million to be paid in 2008 and 2010, doesn’t seem that bad of an investment. But what struck a note is that Jumpstart also does behavioral targeting, and consults on optimizing search engine marketing. So chalk another company acquisition announcement to behavioral targeting online! I’m sure we’ll see a lot more.