Chinese online media company BesTV (SH:600637) invested nearly US$100 million in mobile digital marketing company adSage for a 51% stake in the company with CICC and CVCapital as financial advisers, respectively.
Together with this deal, BesTV planned to establish a digital marketing platform for IPTV, OTT, Internet, mobile Internet and outdoor ads.
Founded in 2007 by some ex-Microsoft technical architects, adSage is a leading online advertising technologies and services provider in China, managing SEM/SEO campaigns for clients in terms of campaign analyses, auto bidding, performance tracking, and intelligent optimizations.
According to BesTV’s 2014 H1 financial report, the company has generated 1.43 billion yuan (around US$233 million) of revenue, up 26.91% YOY, recording over 55 million active users.
As one of the largest paid TV operators in China, BesTV’s revenue from PPV (pay per view) business soared 80% YOY in the reporting period, eclipsing 10% YOY for IPTV.
In addition to paid contents, the company’s ad revenue (including Funshion) is surging by more than 200% YOY in H1. Cooperation with adSage may help the online media company to boost its content commercialization drive.
The market size of Chinese digital marketing industry increased 46.1% YOY to 110 billion yuan in 2013, according to data released by the company. This figure is expected to hit 286.2 billion yuan by 2017, rising at a compound annual growth rate of 28.69% from 2013 to 2017.
image credit: BesTV
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