Ströer extends online portfolio with technology leader in precise target group identification

• Landmark deal for Ströer’s online strategy

• Proprietary technologies offer competitive advantages in real-time analysis of big data

• Strengthening of branding business for premium publishers

Cologne, 29 August 2013    Via its wholly-owned subsidiary Ströer Digital Group GmbH, Ströer Media AG is taking over the Berlin-based company mbr targeting GmbH and thus adding a major component to its online portfolio. This component facilitates the exact identification of online target groups, the delivery of transaction-based performance campaigns and the generation of new customers in the digital business. mbr, a scientifically driven and innovative targeting services provider, has proprietary technologies in important key areas. For Ströer Media AG, this takeover will thus produce additional opportunities in future to address target groups with great precision in its online marketing activities and to internationalise its online business.

“With this strategic landmark deal we are explicitly building on Ströer’s technological leadership in the German online market”, comments Udo Müller, CEO of Ströer Media AG. “Together with our developers in New Zealand, Germany and the Czech Republic, mbr’s targeting technology and experts will offer us decisive competitive advantages in terms of big data. With the mbr takeover, we in our opinion obtain the best data science team in the German market. Overall, our online development department now comprises more than 60 technicians – a key unique selling point for our business. With our performance-based products, we will build up a decisive head start in the online marketing business. Not only that, we will in future cover the entire digital value chain – from ad-servers via demand and supply side platforms, real time bidding and ad-exchange through to targeting based on proprietary technologies. The mbr acquisition successfully rounds off this development.”

Alongside the premium publisher business, Ströer’s central activity, the online advertising market based on the evaluation of large volumes of data (big data) is becoming increasingly performance-based – away from content-focused and towards consumer-focused adverts. Marketers are expected to offer ever more precise targeting and professional data management. Having said this, the big data market in Germany is still in its infancy. mbr’s proprietary targeting technology therefore represents a key element in Ströer’s online strategy. mbr’s services will nevertheless continue to be offered to third parties as well.

mbr’s Consumer Action Mining (CAM) algorithm for the real-time processing of large volumes of data has been derived from bio-physical research into complex systems and has been further developed at universities in Germany and the USA over the past eleven years. This software collects anonymised user action data and derives real-time consumer/product relationships. Shopping carts, customer groups and target groups are not defined in advance, but are rather calculated based on the data situation. mbr targeting thus offers a unique automatic, user-focused targeting algorithm.
This makes CAM less prone to error and more dynamic and efficient than other available technologies. The resultant performance enhancement across all relevant indicators leads to a win-win situation for publishers and advertisers alike. Ströer now has a further major tool in its hands enabling it to capitalise premium content from premium publishers even more effectively in future. This is an important factor, not least given the ever higher performance requirements customers have for branding campaigns as well. Detailed tests performed with the CAM algorithm on Ströer’s existing online platforms already showed excellent results, with figures way ahead of market standards.

mbr targeting is a start-up company whose business activities are in their initial stages. In a first step, Ströer will acquire a 79.1 percent stake in mbr targeting GmbH from various shareholder groups. Depending on specific ancillary conditions being met, the closing is expected to take place in early October. With Pablo Metz and Christoph Tavan, mbr’s founding team will continue to hold management positions at the company and, via capital shareholdings, will also participate directly in the company’s performance.