MTG invests in Europe’s largest multi-channel network Zoomin.TV

Regulatory News:

MTG has acquired 51% of Zoomin.TV, the online video entertainment network, content production and advertising sales house. This follows MTG’s announced investments in ESL (the world’s largest esports company) and Splay (Scandinavia’s number one MCN and digital content creator) in the last few weeks, and reflects MTG’s strategy to invest in relevant, complementary and scalable digital brands, content and communities. MTG’s fast growing digital portfolio also includes the Viaplay Nordic subscription video on demand service, esports platform Viagame, and advertising video on demand TV sites in 8 European countries.

Zoomin is the 5th largest MCN in the world, attracting more than 2 billion monthly video views and 100 million subscribers worldwide on YouTube. Zoomin also has a network of 2,000 publishers, including leading media brands such as Yahoo, AOL, Bild and Telegraaf. Zoomin’s daily production includes more than 400 premium short video clips in 18 languages and 27 categories from video journalists all around the world. Zoomin’s in-house sales team sells advertising solutions on Zoomin and third party channels in 45 territories to leading consumer brands including P&G, Philips, Volkswagen and Unilever. Zoomin has generated 36% average sales growth over the past 5 years, and 70% growth in 2014 alone.

MTG is acquiring the shares based on an Enterprise Value of EUR 88 million. Zoomin’s two founders - Jan Riemens and Bram Bloemberg – will continue to drive the company’s development. Zoomin was founded in 2002 in Amsterdam and also has offices in London, Brussels, Paris, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Madrid, Barcelona, Milan, Miami, Los Angeles, Mexico City, São Paulo, Montevideo and Kerala.

The opportunities opened up by MTG’s recent digital investments are tremendous. Gaming video content alone already attracts 468 million online viewers, and is a USD 3.8 billion revenue opportunity according to a recent report by Superdata. Online gaming is one of Zoomin’s key verticals, and Zoomin will work closely with ESL and Viagame to drive higher viewership and monetization rates. At the same time, Splay will leverage Zoomin’s global distribution network to promote its web talents, while in turn providing best-in-class influencer marketing tools to Zoomin and its publisher network. The now global digital footprint and advertising sales capability of this combined group will benefit all of MTG’s video entertainment products.

"This combination of global web talent and content, massive reach amongst millennials, and proven monetization capabilities confirms our position as a leading player in the global online video entertainment space. It is now clear that we are creating an online video eco-system that is fully prepared to capitalise on the next steps in the evolution of social video. It will enable both Zoomin and our other market leading digital brands to expand even faster by leveraging our combined consumer insight, reach and cross-promotional potential. We will now operate right across the digital video entertainment spectrum, just as we have done so successfully with our TV content production studios, channel brands and distribution platforms. So…welcome to the Zoomin team, and we look forward to realising some big ambitions together.”

Jørgen Madsen Lindemann, MTG President and CEO

"We are extremely happy to have found the right strategic partner in MTG. We wanted to team up with a company that knows the content arena inside out and that will elevate Zoomin to become an even bigger global player in the online video space. MTG’s near 900,000 hours of acquired and annually broadcast content, together with its leading in-house production studios, demonstrate this knowledge and platform. We have a proven business model for creating and monetizing online video reach. Now we will accelerate our growth further by working with MTG to position ourselves as the ideal partner for video publishers looking to succeed internationally. On behalf of all our talents, partners and employees, we look forward to working with MTG.”

Jan Riemens & Bram Bloemberg, Zoomin.TV Founders

Any questions?
www.mtg.com
Facebook: facebook.com/MTGAB
Twitter: @mtgab
press@mtg.com (or Per Lorentz 46 73 699 27 09)
investors@mtg.com (or Stefan Lycke 46 73 699 27 14)

Questions for Zoomin.TV
www.zoomin.tv
Gerrit Jan de Roo
gj.deroo@corp.zoomin.tv
+31 6 51 57 92 96

MTG (Modern Times Group MTG AB (publ.)) is an international entertainment group. Our operations span six continents and include TV channels and platforms, online services, content production businesses and radio stations. We are also the largest shareholder in CTC Media, which is Russia’s leading independent media company. Our shares are listed on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm (‘MTGA’ and ‘MTGB’).

The information in this announcement is that which MTG is required to disclose according to the Securities Market Act and/or the Financial Instruments Trading Act, and was released at 08.00 CET on 20 July 2015.

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View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150719005046/en/