A year ago, LinkedIn announced the launch of the LinkedIn Lead Accelerator as well as LinkedIn Network Display, which extended the company’s ad platform to “thousands” of publisher sites.
On Thursday, LinkedIn released its earnings report, and buried in that was an announcement that it is shutting down both Lead Accelerator and Network Display.
“Our strategy in acquiring Bizo was to create a unified ad platform to better address the B2B market opportunity,” the earnings release says. “In 2015, we launched specific products, particularly Lead Accelerator, as standalone offerings. While initial demand was solid, the product required more resources than anticipated to scale.”
“As a result, we will phase out selling Lead Accelerator in the first half and incorporate the key technology into Sponsored Content throughout 2016,” it continues. “We will also deprecate Network Display through this process. In the short-term, the trade-off is roughly $50 million in potential revenue, but we believe this is the best long-term decision.”
LinkedIn says the change should ultimately benefit the entire Sponsored Content customer base with a stronger product and “more streamlined experience”. Sponsored Content, it says, is its fastest growing and most profitable ad product, so it will get more of the company’s focus.
LinkedIn’s revenue increased by 34% year over year, beating Wall Street expectations, but weak guidance sent the company’s stock downward.
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