Altice drops €285m to boost advertising game

Telco group Altice has entered into an agreement to acquire online video advertising marketplace Teads in a deal worth €285 million.

The acquisition adds another component to Altice’s global advertising strategy, which will see the telco provide customers with data-driven, audience-based advertising solutions on multiscreen platforms including TV, digital, mobile and tablets.

Altice was quick to mention the Teads business itself is a strong enough performer to stand-alone following the acquisition, however it believes the first-party data which the telco can provide will enhance the proposition further. Teads is claimed to be the leading video advertising marketplace worldwide, with an audience of more than 1.2 billion unique visitors including 720 million via mobile.

“Convergence of telecoms, content, and advertising is at the core of our business. There is significant incremental value to be generated from our assets,” said Michel Combes, CEO of Altice. “Teads, a powerful business in itself, with major presence in Altice footprint notably in the U.S. and France, will enable us to offer a truly unique value proposition to brands and agencies on the one hand and the media industry, programmers and distributors on the other.

“It is that value proposition – data-driven, measurable and multiscreen – which will enable us to significantly grow our advertising business. We are very excited to partner with Pierre, Bertrand and their talented team.”

While audiences may find the in-article videos which the company powers a bit irritating, it seems to have struck a note of interest with advertisers. Over the course of 2016,  Teads revenue grew by 44% in to an estimated €187.7 million. It also claims to have relationships with 94 of the 100 biggest advertising spenders in the world, but what relationships actually means is a bit of a grey area. Your correspondent has a relationship with Amazon Prime as a previous subscriber; doesn’t mean they get any money off me anymore.

“We are excited to start this new phase of Teads and become part of the internationally renowned Altice team,” said Pierre Chappaz, founder of Teads. “Since our inception we have strived to offer our clients with superior advertising solutions based on measurable performance and technological innovation.

“As part of Altice, we will be able to offer even more tailored, data-driven solutions and take our value proposition from the digital world to a multiscreen platform, which includes TV, digital, mobile and tablets. It is this differentiated offering which will allow Altice and Teads to uniquely prosper in the global advertising market.”