Ziff Davis, the digital media subsidiary of j2 Global Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:JCOM) has acquired Ookla, maker of the highly popular Speedtest.net application. In the announcement, the terms of the acquisition were not made public, although j2 Global claims it will not have a material impact on the company’s finances.

Ookla, which brands itself as the “definitive source for global internet metrics,” offers a suite of applications geared toward consumer and enterprise broadband performance testing. One of these is Speedtest.net, which is available for both web and mobile platforms. The company also offers enterprise-oriented NetGauge, which enables businesses to manage connectivity performance using the same technologies that run Speedtest. Meanwhile, NetMetrics utilizes the data that Ookla has connected in understanding real-time global network performance.

Previously, Bright Side of News* reported on j2 Global’s most recent quarterly performance, during which the company posted record gains, with a 13 quarter dividend increase streak, likewise beating analyst expectations with 20% growth in revenue and likewise a marginal increase in earnings per share.

In that particular report, j2 Global was cited to have placed emphasis on video and rich content as part of its strategy in the performance of its advertising assets. Ziff Davis runs popular online properties like gaming website IGN Entertainment, as well as Ask Men and PC Magazine, where the company says video will be “key in the future success of online advertising.”

Thus, the acquisition of Ookla will be in sync with the company’s focus in ensuring optimized access to rich media such as video and other dynamic content. Even with fixed and mobile broadband increasing in speed, actual connection quality often varies depending on location.

j2 Global expects its full year revenue to be within the $580 to $600 million range, and the company expects high sequential growth figures from Q3 to Q4 this year, consistent with the trend during the holiday season. With its acquisition of network-related big data, it is highly likely that j2 Global’s digital assets will enjoy optimized delivery of content across its audience.

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j2 Global Inc. (NASDAQ:JCOM), which owns and operates cloud services and media outfits like Ziff Davis (which runs PC Magazine, AskMen and IGN Entertainment, among others), has recently published its third quarter 2014 earnings report, which it considers a solid quarter, beating analyst expectations.

In Q3 2014, quarterly revenue was $153 million, up 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Net GAAP income was at $28.8 million, resulting in $0.60 earnings per share, compared with $27.8 million or $0.59 cents EPS in the same period last year.

Notable is j2 Global’s streak in dividend increases for the past 13 quarters, raising the figure from 26.25 cents per share in the first quarter of the fiscal year to 28.5 cents. In the company’s investor guidance call, CEO Nehemia Zucker and President and CFO Robert Scott Turichi reported that the quarter is considered a strong one, with better-than-expected growth in performance in both the company’s cloud services and publications division.

In particular, publications are a strong suit for j2 Global, considering its major acquisitions like IGN Entertainment (acquired through Ziff Davis in early 2013). According to Zucker, revenue per thousand visits has improved 32% to $72 across its properties, and the CEO stressed the company’s new focus on high-value ad placements focused on the B2B market launched along with the division’s new CPA — cost-per-action — initiative. “[Ads are] basically a high-value B2B categories [in which] you recommend services,” he says. “In this case it’s web hosting, and we are paid by all the the web hosting companies, too small to see them, for our ability to generate customers for them.”

In the case of IGN, which is a popular destination for gaming news and reviews, Zucker says the company has launched localized versions of the site in Latin America, Portugal and Greece. In terms of performance, he stresses the importance of rich media in the success of publications in this niche. “Video is key — the future success of online advertising,” he says. Video consumption grew to 441 million views in this quarter, up 35% compared to the same period the previous year. Subscribers to the IGN YouTube channel grew 44% to 5 million. He attributes this to the bandwidth improvements across its target markets. “As bandwidth is getting better, video is becoming more important.”

In terms of monetizing content, the company has found that its publications perform better with actionable content. “The world is tired of just simple views,” Zucker says. “Viewability is the next big thing. So we are trying to focus more and encourage that we can generate more traffic based on performance when they pay for results.”

j2 Global expects full year 2014 revenue to be at $580 to $600 million, with non-GAAP EPS of approximately $3.23 to $3.47 range. According to management, the company expects performance growth in the fourth quarter, consistent with the trend during the holidays, including Black Friday and the Christmas shopping season.

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