Taptica will acquire RhythmOne for $176 million in an all-stock deal, the companies said Monday.
The mobile ad tech firm also gets a matryoshka doll of assets along with RhythmOne, including assets from the latter’s previous acquisitions of YuMe, Burst Media and parts of RadiumOne.
Taptica characterized the deal as a bid for connected televison budgets. The company spent $50 million in September 2017 to buy Tremor’s buy-side business.
“CTV is where the market is going, and we see a chance to create a major independent player in this field,” said Ofer Druker, executive chairman of Tremor Video DSP. He’ll be CEO of the merged entity when the RhythmOne deal closes in April.
Tremor’s “claim to fame” is audience targeting, Druker said, while YuMe is more focused on the supply side. He claims 27% of YuMe’s business is centered on the advanced TV market. RhythmOne has a media exchange and partnerships with more than 4,000 publishers.
“There are thousands of publishers through their exchange that we can capitalize on and monetize with our demand sources,” Druker said. “This acquisition isn’t about doing something new, it’s about reinforcing our offering together and growing the technology so that we have more leverage and the ability to be a valued competitor in a growing market.”
YuMe, Tremor Video DSP and RhythmOne will operate as separate divisions within Taptica, alongside the company’s core mobile performance business.
Nearly all of RhythmOne’s 600 employees are getting offers to come aboard and join Taptica’s headcount of 400.
Taptica and RhythmOne are both publicly traded companies on the London Stock Exchange. When the deal closes in April, RhythmOne will come off the public market.
