RTL Group today announced it is set to acquire Yospace, a UK-based video technology company. RTL Group will pay up to $33 million (approximately €29 million) before cash and debt adjustments. The transaction is expected to close 1 February 2019.
Yospace has developed technology specialising in server-side dynamic ad insertion (SSDAI), which allows the replacement of ads from a broadcast stream with more targeted and personalised advertising. RTL Group said in a statement that the company believes that SSDAI is expected to become the de facto standard to seamlessly serve spots in premium streaming environments.
TV Rise, The TV Advertising Leadership Forum
San Sebastian, April 1-3 2019
Yospace’s technology is currently deployed by media owners in Europe, the United States and Asia, and customers include BT Sport, TV4, ITV, and Seven West Media.
Yospace focuses on the premium end of the market which is also the fastest growing and most significant market for RTL-owned SpotX. However, at this point Yospace will continue their day-to-day operations and will for now at least the company is expected to retain its independence. Other RTL Group ad tech acquisitions include Smartclip (€46.9 million in December 2016) and a sizeable investment in Clypd.
Bert Habets, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of RTL Group, said, “The acquisition of Yospace is an important step in building out our Total Video portfolio and will help drive two strategic goals at the same time. First, we gain a competitive, fully integrated and profitable solution which is key to further grow our ad-tech business. Our goal is to continue expanding SpotX into a leading, independent monetisation platform for broadcasters, video on demand services and publishers.”
He added, “Secondly, this acquisition will also help build local streaming champions in the markets where we have strong families of channels. The Yospace technology makes advertising on streaming services more personal, which means a better consumer experience for superior monetisation of our premium advertising inventory.”
Tim Sewell, CEO at Yospace, said, “Our clients make significant investments in their video offerings and content licenses. Yospace has proven that it can provide an unmatched quality of service even with millions of concurrent users. This new relationship with RTL Group will not only allow us to extend our customer base to all entities of the biggest European broadcast and video network, but RTL Group is also fully committed to support the further roll out of our services to bring more innovative products to media owners around the world.”
