GroupM’s purchase of Germany-based Plista for a reputed €30m indicates an increased appetite for data-driven solutions among the industry’s big players, but also points to mounting pressure facing third-party tech partners as we enter 2014.

This week WPP’s investment arm GroupM – which houses media agencies including MEC, Mediacom and Mindshare – further added to its stable of programmatic entities, namely Xaxis and Quisma. Officially GroupM and Plista have yet to publicly disclose the value of the purchase, but reports citing sources close to the deal place at circa €30m.

Berlin-headquartered Plista currently operates in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and Rudiger Wanck, GroupM’s global digital COO and chief digital officer for EMEA, claims the holding group’s ambition is to bring Plista’s operations to the global market.

Dr. Dominik Matyka, co-founder and managing director of Plista, says: “This agreement will allow us not only to realise our growth objectives, but more importantly to make substantive and forward-looking contributions to the marketing plans of our and GroupM clients across Europe.”

The deal brings WPP a step closer to having 40-45% of its revenues generated by ‘high growth’ areas (which includes digital media) within five years. Plus is it also begs the question of whether or not GroupM will buy more companies allowing it to offer clients both managed advertising services and ad technology?

Earlier this year ExchangeWire forecast further consolidation in the ad network space – when we think that Plista matches content with publishers’ audiences it meets this definition – and with this we must also consider the likes of Infectious, Media IQ and BannerConnect as serious candidates for acquisition from the industry’s holding groups.

Plus, we can also expect to see some progressive brands express at least an interest in taking a direct stake in companies offering such services. Ubiquitous supermarket retailers with a global footprint, plus the usual cash-rich array of Silicon Valley-based giants, must be considered as likely suitors.

However, it also raises important questions over how third-party ad tech providers can operate as pure play third party buyers in the face of increased consolidation, when they can increasingly be seen not as providers but as potential competitors.

Discussions are already being had at the agency level of how to best deal with client objections over transparency and making margin on media.

Xaxis chief executive Brian Lesser has already gone on record as saying that he considers “companies that have a platform positioning that are actually large ad networks” as competitors. Therefore we must assume that he is unlikely to instruct those within his network to include such companies on any media plan.

And one point often raised by ExchangeWire is: ‘Can you really tell apart the two at WPP, Quisma and Xaxis, from the likes of Rocketfuel, Criteo, et al?’

Unquestionably, such entities can provide value to advertisers. But the most crucial point for these companies to prove in 2014 is how they can continue to provide value on a media plan when the traditional lines of demarcation between brand, media agency and third-party tech provider are increasingly becoming blurred.

ExchangeWire invites comment/contribution over how the jockeying for advertising euro/pounds will pan out.