WordPress VIP cloud hosting provider is acquiring Parse.ly, a content and engagement analytics platform. WordPress VIP is the corporate arm of Automattic, the keepers of the open-source WordPress CMS and Tumblr. WordPress VIP is making moves after a 2019 infusion of $300 Million in investment capital from Salesforce Ventures.
Parse.ly provides content editors real-time analytics on content engagement and performance. As more businesses move to cloud analytics, informing marketing direction has become increasingly in-demand.
While WordPress VIP is not in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Digital Experience Platforms or DXPs because it’s not a fit for the DXP category, buyers are often confused by the distinction. This acquisition continues to blur the lines between a fully formed DXP and cloud hosting and managed services. This move, in my opinion, will improve WordPress VIP’s competitiveness with Episerver DXP and Acquia. In 2019 Episerver acquired a similar analytics tool called Idio (since rebranded to become Optimizely). Acquia is acquiring a similar set of tools. AgileOne, for example, provides Acquia’s marketing analytics.
The WordPress VIP acquisition comes on the heels of Episerver’s announcement of a major rebrand. Coincidence? The DXP competitive landscape is heating up with venture capital making seemingly bigger and bigger moves. As a strategist in the space, it is stimulating to see this pace of innovation.
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Image Credit: “engraving of a newspaper printing press” by firexbrat is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
