Specific Media gets financing

Irvine-based ad network Specific Media Inc. said it had received $100 million in financing from San Francisco-based private equity group Francisco Partners.

Specific Media, which works with online publishers including the big television networks and Major League Baseball, collects data about Web surfers and shows them targeted ads based on that data. The announcement comes a day after privacy groups urged the Federal Trade Commission to make the practice, called behavioral targeting, more transparent.