NO. 1 MALAYSIAN DIGITAL MEDIA GROUP
Acquisition makes firm largest Malaysian digital media firm
THE country‘s largest integrated media company, Media Prima
Bhd, doubles its digital audience to 10.4 million with the acquisition of REV Asia Holdings, one of the region‘s leading digital media groups. These two giants, whose combined local reach is surpassed only by Facebook and Google, are set
to transform the media landscape.
MEDIA Prima Bhd, already the country’s largest integrated media group, will become the largest Malaysian digital media company following its acquisition of REV Asia Holdings Sdn Bhd.
Its digital audience reach will jump from five million to 10.4 million and come in third overall in the country after Google (15.7 million) and Facebook (14.1 million).
Media Prima yesterday announced that its subsidiary, Media Prima Digital Sdn Bhd (MPD), was acquiring 100 per cent of REV Asia Holdings for RM105 million to expand its digital content and digital media platforms. REV Asia Holdings, a subsidiary of Rev Asia Bhd, is one of Southeast Asia’s leading digital media groups.
Its stable of brands cover a wide variety of segments, including entertainment, lifestyle and English, Malay and Chinese news.
“The strategic acquisition of REV Asia Holdings demonstrates our firm commitment to capitalise on the growing demand for digital content amongst consumers by expanding our reach and further enhancing the group’s competencies in digital content marketing, digital content curation and digital native marketing ads,” Media Prima group chief financial officer Mohamad Ariff Ibrahim said in a statement.
REV Asia Holdings has significant reach among consumers aged between 18 and 35, and specialises in native content-based advertising, which garners higher margins.
“Their deep expertise in producing content for the age group is an additional value to Media Prima, and will allow the group to expand its media offerings to general consumers, media buyers, advertisers and premium publishers,” said MPD chief executive officer Rafiq Razali.
“This bodes well for the group as we capitalise on the increasing importance of digital content amongst advertisers.”
The Media Prima Group’s existing inventory of digital products and consumer-based services include tonton, FullAMark, CJ Wow Shop and mobile apps, which will benefit from the additional reach provided by this acquisition.
REV Asia Holdings recorded revenue and profit after tax of RM23.5 million and RM4.2 million for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2016, representing growth of 32 and 27 per cent, respectively, compared with the previous financial year.
Its managing director, Voon Tze Khay, said the company was excited to join the Media Prima family and work together to transform the media landscape in Malaysia.
“Media Prima is a true leader in Malaysia’s media industry with a strong track record of success in offering integrated media offerings.
“Together, we are confident in our ability to expand our reach whilst solidifying our combined position as the number one digital media group in the country,” he said.
REV Asia Bhd co-founder and director Patrick Grove said REV Asia Holdings and MPD were highly complementary businesses and there was a strong rationale underpinning the sale.
“I look forward to watching Rev Asia Holdings grow exponentially with MPD.”
Media Prima has, since last year, launched several key initiatives to capitalise on the growing demand for digital services and online commerce.
These include CJ Wow Shop (home shopping via television broadcast and online), Super Deals (combining potential of e-commerce and radio) and a revamp of tonton (Malaysia’s leading over-the-top subscriber-based video streaming portal).
The group’s other digital initiatives include the interactive learning portal FullAMark as well as popular mobile applications capitalising on Media Prima’s intellectual properties (Ejen Ali and JRev olusi game series, and Jalan-jalan Cari Makan), which altogether have more than two million downloads.
The new initiatives have provided Media Prima with a new revenue stream (business to consumer) in line with the group’s strategy to be less dependent on advertising expenditure.