Ad network Federated Media is losing one of its bigger clients, the TechCrunch network. Michael Arrington announced it on TechCrunch, of course, and explained the decision with the fact that they have been selling direct ads for some time already, and want to move on in that direction.
We’d like to acknowledge Federated Media for the contributing role they’ve played to help TechCrunch get to where it is today. Notwithstanding our differences of opinion about the role of conversational marketing, we part friends. Unlike others, we’re not leaving to move to competitive selling networks, we’re just leaving to chart our own course.
There’s been some noise around the TechCrunch-FM relationship over the years, Arrington not being the most subtle guy and probably rightly so when it comes to handling Federated Media, but the two parties are apparently splitting up on good terms, which the FM Blog post confirms.
What does this mean for Federated Media? It’s a loss, of course, but it won’t get them on their hands and knees. Not unless they are already there, given the financial situation the world is in.
