App analytics company Sensor Tower has acquired digital ad intelligence company Pathmatics, adding online ad intelligence to Sensor Tower’s existing app insights.

“We didn’t have really great data on a huge portion of advertising spend rates,” says Alexey Malafeev, CEO of Sensor Tower. He says clients would ask for insight on ad campaigns that didn’t run through mobile apps, something Sensor Tower was unable to provide. The questions are increasingly critical as media spending grows online, with digital advertising accounting for 58% of media spending in 2021, eclipsing all traditional media channels, according to eMarketer.

Pathmatics, which tracks ad and campaign performance using information from web crawlers, panel ad collection technologies and social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, can now provide Sensor Tower customers with insight into online campaigns beyond apps. “We’ll be able to continue providing this data and analysis for a view that covers the whole digital market as opposed to the mobile piece only,” says Malafeev.

Sensor Tower declined to disclose the value of the deal, which closed today. The company said it plans no restructuring and that Sensor Tower will continue to expand and fill open jobs. Gabe Gottlieb, former co-founder and CEO of Pathmatics, will become Sensor Tower’s new chief strategy officer.

The two companies also signaled they would move into connected TV with OTT insights, and plan to expand Pathmatics’ social and digital coverage.

The companies say the deal was motivated in part by shifting demands from brands and advertisers during the COVID-19 pandemic. CPG and financial insurance companies are seeing their customer interaction switch to digital, says Gottlieb, spurred by new demands caused by stay-at-home and social distancing rules.

“Everything from shopping for car insurance on my insurance app, or buying diapers but asking questions and interacting with other moms, all these are happening digitally now,” says Gottlieb. “From advertising to usage intelligence, brands are asking for [insights]. They want to understand, am I leader or laggard, am I middle of the pack, and what should I be thinking about as I build this digital first vision.”

The demise of third-party cookies and changes to Apple's identifier for advertisers created an increasingly competitive landscape for brands, says Malafeev, elevating the importance of insights. Sensor Tower says that the two companies can create a one-stop shop for clients. “Being able to work with one partner for all this is really powerful,” says Malafeev.