Glam Buys Ning

Glam sees an opportunity to offer the technology platform to its publishers and extend its advertising across Ning sites. The question is whether the kind of brand advertising Glam is after will fit on tens of thousands of Ning properties. It’s the wrong question, if you ask Rosenthal, who thinks the nature of quality publishing is totally changing.

“Historically the highest quality content came from the largest media companies,” he said. “Today the highest quality, most engaging content online is coming from independent publishers across the Web.”

Glam sure hopes so. It is building a new-style media company that’s a hybrid of ad network and technology company. It has branched out from its roots as a woman-focused network to build tech tools, like an ad server and mobile and content-creation platforms. Ning will add a needed social piece to the puzzle, according to Glam CEO Samir Arora.

“The downturn almost wiped out many social companies,” he said. “Ning was one of the survivors.”