News reaches me that marketing technology & services firm J.L. Halsey has acquired ClickTracks and Hot Banana.
It looks like J.L. Halsey is rounding out their e-marketing management & analysis capabilities. They’ll need to keep acquiring, though – I predict they’ll go for a bid management tool next. The Search Works, perhaps?
The acquisition also confirms my previous prediction that the independent web analytics industry is disappearing – being absorbed by bigger players in areas like online marketing, or, occasionally, merging.
My congratulations go to John Marshall, ClickTracks CEO, and his team. I’ve known John for a few years since he was in the running to be WebAbacus CEO; we’ve bumped into each other on the web analytics circuit (mainly at e-metrics summits) ever since. John, if you’re reading this, I’ll buy you a drink next time you’re in Seattle, or I’m in Santa Cruz (could be a little while).