Sortable, the Google search of products, has been acquired by Rebellion Media for an undisclosed sum. It will join brands like Mobile Mom, Twirlit, and Manolith as part of the Canadian media company’s portfolio of digital properties. Although the Sortable team initially launched the backend decision engine two years ago, the company’s website only hit the public nine months ago. The decision engine also powers recommendations on the camera search site SnapSort, the mobile phone search site Geekaphone, and the car search site Carsort. Together, Sortable’s decision engines drive 10 million monthly page views across all participating sites with Sortable.com bringing in an astonishing 4 million visits monthly. Sortable’s traffic and decision engine will provide the foundation to drive Rebellion Media’s new content strategy, which includes expanding search categories from gadgets to personalized answers in hundreds of new categories. The company is launching a new personalized hyper-relevant content technology in conjunction with the Sortable acquisition. The technology, called TRACE (Traffic Revenue And Content Engine), will be paired with the Sortable decision engine to grow Rebellion Media web properties into highly engaging sites that will drive users to purchase products based on their personalized content experiences. “Traditional content producers are failing to keep pace with the accelerating demands of their consumers,” said Ted Hastings, CEO of Rebellion Media. ” “Sortable is the cornerstone of Rebellion’s TRACE platform, a platform that is designed to solve the problem of providing personalized content to digital media consumers.” He continued, “By bringing together expertise in multiple disciplines, including traffic acquisition, content management and monetization strategies into a single platform, we are developing a new and innovative way to create, manage and grow online properties.” Rebellion Media’s plans for Sortable are a continuation of a larger trend in content monetization. By embedding personalized products into content experiences, content companies are hoping to create alternative sources of revenue beyond ad placements. Companies like Cinsay are fusing content and e-commerce by offering targeted products that are seamlessly placed within video content. Rebellion Media’s approach will be less focused on video and more focused on applying this new content monetization trend to entire web properties. Although Sortable’s decision engine is a key purchase for Rebellion Media as it expands its content monetizaton strategy, Sortable’s team and main sites will remain intact. In the coming months, Sortable will be expanding into other domains, as well as providing more engaging content, community and mobile experiences to Sortable users.
