Adconion Media Group makes global ‘land grab’ for video advertising market: Acquires smartclip, Europe’s leader in digital in-stream video & connected TV advertising

Hamburg, 8 November 2011. Adconion Media Group has affirmed its position as a market leader in online video advertising following its announcement today that it has acquired smartclip, Europe’s leader for digital video advertising. The impact on Adconion’s operations will be immediate, with smartclip’s global network of in-stream and connected TV distribution partners increasing the volume of exclusive inventory available across Adconion’s digital distribution platform.

2011_11_smartclip_adconionThis strategic acquisition will significantly strengthen Adconion’s position in online video in its existing markets and accelerate the deployment of its digital distribution platform into the emerging markets of Eastern and Central Europe and into the segment of Connected TV. The smartclip business with its expertise in digital video advertising will complement Adconion’s existing product range. The proprietary in-stream video and Connected TV technology of smartclip will be integrated with the Adconion platform, which is already delivering targeted ads and content across display, email, social and both in-banner and in-stream video.
According to Tyler Moebius, Founder and CEO of Adconion Media Group, this announcement will shake up the video market considerably as studios, agencies and advertisers are demanding the opportunity to hyper-syndicate more targeted content across multiple platforms than ever before.

“The addition of smartclip’s exclusive in-stream reach and Connected TV apps to our platform is an important development in growing the online video industry globally. We will now be providing advertisers an exclusive audience which they can reach in scale across in-banner, in-stream and Connected TV,” said Moebius.

“The online video and web TV market is incredibly fragmented across the globe and there is an extreme shortage of quality in-stream inventory. We’re seeing the same market evolution in video inventory that we experienced in premium display several years ago. Opportunistic vertical broker networks are popping up everyday and are focused only on arbitrage, or brokering the same real estate and essentially adding no value to the advertisers, publishers or content partners. We are focused on providing technical solutions to our publishers, superior monetization for our content partners and exclusive audiences and deep user experiences at scale to our advertisers.”

“Adconion is both strategically and technologically a natural partner for us to accelerate and achieve smartclip’s next level of growth” said Jean-Pierre Fumagalli, co-founder and CEO of smartclip. “Both parties understand the evolution of audio visual media consumption and are committed to delivering to advertisers and agencies solutions for a digitally merged TV and online video experience on a global scale.”

With the acquisition of smartclip, Adconion will gain 118 employees in Europe and expand to 27 offices servicing clients throughout the UK, Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Portugal in Western Europe; Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland in Northern Europe; and Russia.

Corporate Finance Partners – now ACXIT Capital Partners – acted as co-advisor to the shareholders of smartclip in this transaction.

About Adconion Media Group

Adconion Media Group is one of the largest independent global audience and video content networks, with a potential reach of 687million unique users – or half of the total global Internet population – every month. Dedicated to true partnerships with agencies and marketers, Adconion arms agencies with customised solutions and innovative products designed in-house while delivering significant global reach across multiple platforms through a single network. As a digital media holding company, it manages a portfolio of brand and performance solution businesses worldwide. Adconion Media Group wholly owns Adconion Direct, a multi-channel distribution platform spanning display, email and social media; Joost, a digital media company devoted to video and content syndication; and RedLever, a global studio specialising in developing and producing brand-integrated and associated content.
Adconion has 16 offices in 8 countries around the world, is a member of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), is one of the first companies to be IAB certified with its first ever Ad Networks Exchanges Quality Assurance program in the US and is a founding member of IASH Europe. (www.adconion.com)

About smartclip

smartclip, Europe’s leader for digital video advertising, is delivering video ads across a variety of platforms and devices with utmost media efficiency. The company works with publishers, media agencies and advertisers, enabling all parties to benefit from the placement of online video ads. smartclip helps media agencies and advertisers roll-out their campaigns on a number of different devices (tablet PCs, Connected TV sets, gaming consoles, desk- or laptops and smartphones) and allows publishers to benefit from proprietary and innovative technology solutions. smartclip is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany and has 11 offices throughout Europe. The company was founded early 2008 by Jean-Pierre Fumagalli and Roland Schaber in cooperation with the eValue Group of Internet entrepreneur Thomas Falk and backed up by Van den Ende & Deitmers, the venture capital of Endemol founder Joop van den Ende. (www.smartclip.com)

About ACXIT Capital Partners

ACXIT Capital Partners is a leading international corporate finance and investment advisory firm for mid-market clients and entrepreneurs in Europe and beyond. Since 1998, we offer our clients comprehensive corporate finance advisory services including M&A and capital markets advisory as well as restructuring, debt and strategic advisory. As an independent, privately owned firm we maintain offices in Frankfurt, Berlin, Munich, Zurich, Vienna and Hong Kong as well as strong alliances in China, India and the USA.

To date, we have completed more than 350 transactions with a total deal/financing volume of approx. EUR 17bn. Our clients are corporations, family-owned businesses, entrepreneurs, financial sponsors and family offices. While our home market is in the German speaking region, most clients are international and transactions cross-border. (www.acxit.com)

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ACXIT Capital Holding GmbH
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60323 Frankfurt am Main
Germany
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Dr. Ingmar Ackermann, Managing Partner
E-mail: Ackermann@acxit.com