News Corp. to fuse Fox Audience Network with MySpace

Posted by Leah McBride Mensching on August 24, 2010 at 5:16 PM

News Corp. will integrate its online advertising network, Fox Audience Network, with MySpace, in order to "utilize its services to further drive MySpace's revenue efforts and to play a key part of the site's planned re-launch later this year," the media conglomerate's Jon Miller said yesterday, paidContent reported.

The decision to combine FAN's team and technology with the social media site changes News Corp.'s previous decision to spin out FAN into another unit under Bain, the article explained. FAN sells targeted ads across News Corp.-owned online platforms, as well as on the sites of third-party publishers.

News Corp. bought MySpace in 2005 for US$580 million, and FAN was created in 2007 to provide the media giant with its own alternative to the many ad networks cropping up to streamline ad buying across websites, Dow Jones reported. Facebook has surpassed MySpace as the most-used social network in the United States, and MySpace has been gearing up to better compete.

"By folding FAN into the MySpace organization, run by President Mike Jones, News Corp. hopes to give its social networking site more heft as it negotiates potential partnerships with other Web players, like Google Inc. (GOOG), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Yahoo Inc. (YHOO)," Dow Jones, also owned by News Corp., explained.

In addition to News Corp., another 800 to 900 publishers are involved with the FAN network; however FAN does not disclose the publishers' names. It is not yet clear how or if the partnerships will continue as FAN becomes part of MySpace.