DENVER, Aug. 30, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SpotX, the video ad serving platform, announced today that RTL Group will acquire all remaining shares in SpotX, bringing its total ownership to 100%.
The investment demonstrates RTL Group's continued commitment to its ambitious ad tech strategy and recognition of SpotX's impressive growth and execution of its strategic objectives. Since RTL Group made its first investment in 2014, SpotX has nearly doubled net revenues1, almost quadrupled EBITDA, opened seven offices in seven countries, and added over 150 new employees. The purchase of the remaining shares by RTL Group is pursuant to the option they negotiated in connection with their initial investment, and is based on an enterprise value of SpotX of $404 million on a 100% basis plus net cash.
With the acquisition scheduled to close in October 2017, SpotX’s management team, led by company co-founders Mike Shehan, CEO, and Steve Swoboda, COO/CFO, will stay on to continue to execute the company’s vision of providing a modern video ad serving platform to broadcasters, MVPDs and premium publishers around the world.
Bert Habets and Guillaume de Posch, Co-CEOs of RTL Group issued a joint statement about the deal: “We are excited to take full ownership of SpotX, a leading global platform for ad serving and programmatic ad sales. Back in 2014, the majority stake in SpotX was our first big step into advertising technology; gaining full ownership now is another major step in transforming RTL Group into a ‘total video’ powerhouse. Together with the very experienced management teams of SpotX and of our European asset Smartclip, we are working on an ambitious growth plan for our ad tech businesses, including further acquisitions, partnerships and deeper synergies across RTL Group. Our joint vision is to build the leading global video monetization offering for broadcasters and premium inventory owners to maximize the value of their audiences consuming total video content across multiple devices.”
Advertising-supported over-the-top (OTT) content, whether it be on-demand, live or linear continues to grow and complement broadcast TV, according to SpotX Co-Founder and CEO, Mike Shehan. “SpotX is emerging as the premier expert in digital monetization of OTT content delivery, and uniquely positioned to assist broadcasters and other modern TV players with maximizing their profitability in the new delivery ecosystem,” Shehan said. “RTL Group’s investment will help extend our footprint in TV as we bring together the TV and digital video worlds.”
The benefits of a fully integrated video advertising infrastructure for publishers are enormous, with synergies between arms in the programmatic ecosystem, execution of multiple buying styles from a single platform and technology efficiencies capable of driving incremental revenue growth for media companies. Along with the step-up investment to 100% RTL Group ownership, SpotX will begin to work more closely with sister RTL Group company, Smartclip. The two companies will focus on achieving their aggressive growth plans, and collaborate to provide the most advanced advertising solutions possible for every screen consumers watch video.
Current clients of SpotX’s platform include broadcasters and publishers, such as Thomson Reuters, Meredith Local Media Group, Vevo, Gutefrage, TVPlayer, STV, RTL Nederland and Conde Nast; app developers, like Gameloft and Cheetah Mobile; OTT providers, such as Sling TV, Vudu and Pluto TV; and CTV software providers, like Anypoint Media, MAZ Digital and Zype.
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1 Net revenue is defined as the amount SpotX retains after paying publishers. This differs from revenue reported under IFRS which includes the gross amount collected from buyers as revenue for certain types of business and the net amount after payment to publishers for others.
About SpotX
SpotX is a video ad serving platform providing media owners with monetization tools for desktop, mobile and connected devices. The platform features modern ad serving and programmatic infrastructure, and other monetization tools, like solutions for OTT and outstream video ad units. SpotX gives publishers the control, transparency and actionable insights needed to understand buyer behavior, manage access and pricing, and maximize revenue. The company is headquartered in Denver, Colorado, and has offices in Amsterdam, Belfast, Hamburg, London, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Stockholm, Singapore and Sydney. In October 2017, RTL Group, a leader across broadcast, content and digital, will complete its 100% acquisition of SpotX. For updates, follow SpotX on Twitter and LinkedIn.
About RTL Group
RTL Group is a leader across broadcast, content and digital, with interests in 56 television channels and 31 radio stations, content production throughout the world and rapidly growing digital video businesses. The television portfolio of Europe’s largest broadcaster includes RTL Television in Germany, M6 in France, the RTL channels in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Croatia, Hungary and Antena 3 in Spain. RTL Group’s families of TV channels are either the number one or number two in eight European countries. The Group’s flagship radio station is RTL in France, and it also owns or has interests in other stations in France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Luxembourg. RTL Group’s content production arm, FremantleMedia, is one of the largest international creators, producers and distributors of multi-genre content outside the US. With operations in 31 countries, FremantleMedia’s comprehensive global network is responsible for approximately 12,000 hours of programming a year and distributes over 20,000 hours of content worldwide. Combining the catch-up TV services of its broadcasters, the multi-platform networks BroadbandTV, StyleHaul and Divimove as well as FremantleMedia’s more than 280 YouTube channels, RTL Group has become the leading European media company in online video. RTL Group also owns the advanced video ad serving platform SpotX. For more information, please visit RTLGroup.com and follow RTL Group on Twitter @rtlgroup. RTL Group – Entertain. Inform. Engage.