Amobee is a subsidiary of Singtel is a global digital marketing technology company with clienteles such as Airbnb, Dell EMC, and Lexus. In an announcement today, it revealed it has inked an agreement to take over Turn. Amobee is acquiring the provider of a global technology platform for marketers and agencies for $310 million.
Amobee, formerly a mobile ad startup itself, was acquired by Singtel in 2012 and now operates as telecom’s subsidiary. Since the formation of the subsidiary, Singtel and Amobee have taken over digital ad firms including Gradient X, Adconion, and Kontera.
Samba Natarajan, Singtel’s CEO of Group Digital Life, quoting eMarketer September 2016, said, global digital ad spend is expected to exceed $200 billion in 2017. This can be attributed to the shift of marketers from traditional to digital media to engage consumers. Natarajan further adds,
The strategic acquisition of Turn strengthens Amobee’s technological edge in the rapidly evolving market of digital advertising and accelerates its growth into a significant global digital marketing player. It will also prime Amobee for expansion beyond the US and into the Asia Pacific, where the Singtel Group reaches some 640 million customers across 22 countries.
Post the transaction, Amobee will be able to extend its existing programmatic and data management capabilities. It will offer marketers an independent end-to-end advertising and data management platform across all channels, formats and devices, access to proprietary Amobee Brand Intelligence insights as well as advanced analytics and media planning capabilities.
With this platform, leading brands and agencies will be able to plan and buy media for specific audiences in a more integrated way to maximize their investments across desktop, mobile, video, and social media.
Turn, through its data management platform, offers advanced data and analytics solutions enabling marketers to understand customer interactions across ad formats and devices in a better manner. It also operates a demand-side platform which provides programmatic buying capabilities. This allows the automation of the process of buying digital ads in real time across video, mobile, and display.
Till date, it has secured over $150 million in equity funding from investors, including Fidelity Investments, Focus Ventures, Greenspring Associates, and BlackRock.
Bruce Falck, CEO of Turn, said,
Today is a significant moment for us and a recognition of the quality of our technology platform. As a part of Amobee, we will be able to enhance the value delivered to our customers and partners on a global scale and accelerate innovation in this space.
