DoubleClick Acquires Opt-In Email.com

Online ad giant DoubleClick Inc. Wednesday acquired Opt-In Email.com, a provider of Internet email marketing, publishing and list management.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The transaction augments DoubleClick’s (DCLK) recently launched suite of consent-based email marketing solutions. Both the acquisition and the new product line make sense; DoubleClick has lagged behind rival 24/7 Media (TFSM) in developing email marketing mechanisms.

Opt-In Email.com delivers content-based email communication programs for more than 25 clients, including online retailers, media firms, software and hardware companies. Clients include Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Mail.com, ShopNow.com, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and iWon.com.

Opt-In Email.com said it can deliver more than 500,000 unique user messages per hour and to date has delivered more than 1.3 billion emails.

On Monday, DoubleClick launched its email strategy with a suite of email products called DARTmail. The product line is comprised of DARTmail for Publishers and DARTmail for Advertisers, and two new media solutions, DARTmail Prospect and DARTmail Network. Opt-In Email will be incorporated into the DARTmail for Advertisers product, providing clients with full-service campaign management solutions immediately.

“As we have outlined in the past, our entry into email marketing was a high priority for us,” said Kevin O’Connor, DoubleClick’s chief executive officer.

“As a result of this transaction, we will have the ability to immediately offer our clients an extensive e-marketing program… Opt-In Email.com’s products offers clients highly effective tools used in building, measuring and delivering comprehensive one-to-one marketing campaigns.”