Tremor Video sells DSP to Taptica for $50m to become pure sell-side platform
Tremor Video has sold its demand-side platform to mobile adtech company Taptica for $50m as it becomes a pure-play sell-side platform, forming part of a wider trend of consolidation in adtech.
Taptica acquires Tremor Video’s DSP for $50m as adtech continues to consolidate
Taptica, a UK-listed Israeli business, hopes the deal will significantly boost its presence in the US digital advertising market as it looks to “bridge the gap” between the East and the West and become the leader in demand-side mobile and video advertising.
Tremor Video DSP will operate as an independent division of Taptica, and will be led by Lauren Wiener, who has served as Tremor Video’s president of buyer platforms for nearly five years.
The sale of Tremor Video’s buyer platform means the business is now a pure-play sell side platform, the “biggest growth-driver” of the business, said Paul Caine, chairman of the Tremor board.
“As consumers continue to shift their viewing behavior towards digital video and OTT, we believe there is a large market opportunity to capitalize on these trends as the leading pure-play video SSP,” he said.
Last year Tremor Video's UK managing director Andrew Morley closed down the ad network and demand-side platform (DSP) side of the business in the UK to focus on its supply-side platform (SSP) operations.
Tremor Video’s demand-side video technology business lost $1.3m last year despite increasing revenue to $137m, the Financial Times reported.
Taptica said it will help accelerate the Tremor Video DSP business globally through real data differentiation. Taptica has over 220 million user profiles with more than 100 data points on each.
Taptica called the deal a “natural alignment” between two demand-side focused businesses to create a “powerful market force”.
Hagai Tal, chief executive of Taptica, said: “Tremor Video’s positive brand value and awareness in the US will enhance Taptica’s solution and market positioning.”
Mark Zagorski, chief executive of Tremor Video, added: “The business is in great hands with Taptica and we look forward to working with them in the future.”
Taptica recently announced the acquisition of Japanese mobile ad company, Adinnovation, to expand its presence in the Asia-Pacific region. The company currently has offices in Beijing, China and Seoul, South Korea.
The deal is the latest in a string of acquisitions as adtech and martech merger and acquisition deals reached record levels during the first three months of 2017 with 115 completed.
Last month Outbrain announced the purchase of Zemanta, a demand-side platform (DSP) specializing in native ad formats; Rubicon Project purchased nToggle in a deal valued at $38.5m; and Sizmek agreed to acquire publicly listed outfit Rocket Fuel in a deal tipped to be worth $145m.