On 22 November, Azerion, the global digital entertainment and media platform listed on Euronext Amsterdam, announced the acquisition of Targetspot’s digital audio advertising business*.
Mario Cabanas, General Manager of Targetspot (with international headquarters located in Anderlecht, Belgium), describes the ideal fit: “Targetspot provides Azerion with the proprietary digital audio technology to expand its engagement with clients and strengthen its position as a European champion in digital advertising. On the other hand, Targetspot was looking for a strong industrial partner in order to continue its development. As such, it will be able to take advantage of Azerion’s commercial strength to roll out digital audio products in the 27 countries where the group has a presence. The United States is our largest market at Targetspot. For Azerion, this acquisition will further solidify their entry into the US market.”
This acquisition is part of an external growth strategy and makes Azerion a true adtech ‘one-stop-shop’ for both advertisers and publishers. The global inventory to which the new entity has access represents more than 700 publishers, who will be able to benefit from increased monetisation with 400,000 advertisers.
Vincent Delmotte, Managing Director for Azerion Belgium, said: “The addition of audio ads to our portfolio of products, from online radio to audio ads in mobile games, will allow us to help advertisers run optimal campaigns and enable our publisher partners to monetise effectively.”
For Belgium, the inventory accessible via Improve, Azerion’s SSP, represents 9 million unique users per month, including the 2nd largest pre-roll inventory in Belgium, behind Youtube. In addition, Targetspot strongly believes in the potential of podcast inventory and is in discussions with some of the major local players to bundle its offering in order to accelerate its adoption.
*Clarification over the business scope acquired by Azerion :
Until this sale, the Targetspot group, listed in Euronext Brussels and Paris, was made of 5 different business lines: Targetspot, Shoutcast, Winamp, Bridger, and Hotmix. Azerion acquires a subsidiary of the group called “Radionomy Group BV” which houses only the Targetspot and Shoutcast businesses, which will therefore be separated from the 3 other business lines (Winamp, Jamendo, Bridger, and HotMix) which remain listed in Euronext under a name soon to be communicated.
About Azerion
Azerion is a high-growth digital entertainment and media platform. We entertain people through highly engaging content and we help advertisers reach any audience, at any scale, anywhere in the world in an easy way at a competitive price and in a high quality, curated content environment. Azerion’s integrated platform provides technology solutions to automate the purchase and sale of digital advertising for media buyers and sellers, supported by in-market sales and campaign management teams. Through our technology, content creators, digital publishers and advertisers work with Azerion to reach the hundreds of millions of people across the globe that play Azerion’s games and view its distributed entertainment content to increase engagement, loyalty, and drive e-commerce.
Founded in 2014 by two Dutch entrepreneurs, Azerion has experienced rapid expansion driven by organic growth and strategic acquisitions. Azerion is headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and is a publicly traded company listed on Euronext Amsterdam. For more information visit: www.azerion.com.
