ADDITIONAL $2 MILLION TO BE INVESTED IN KONTEXTUA FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW DIGITAL ADVERTISING PLATFORMS AND TO PROPEL ITS EXPANSION IN THE U.S. AND LATIN AMERICA
Miami (September 24, 2012) - RedMas, the digital advertising unit of the Cisneros Group of Companies, today announced the acquisition of Kontextua, an online advertising company with an expansive network in Latin America and Spain that will strengthen the Group’s digital presence in the region. In addition, RedMas will invest $2 million in Kontextua to develop new digital advertising platforms and extend the online network's reach in Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, and in the U.S. Hispanic market.
Los Cisneros, historia de un movimiento de cuatro siglos
CISNEROS GROUP'S REDMAS ACQUIRES KONTEXTUA
1. CISNEROS GROUP'S REDMAS ACQUIRES KONTEXTUA
ADDITIONAL $2 MILLION TO BE INVESTED IN KONTEXTUA FOR THE
DEVELOPMENT OF NEW DIGITAL ADVERTISING PLATFORMS AND
TO PROPEL ITS EXPANSION IN THE U.S. AND LATIN AMERICA
Miami (September 24, 2012) - RedMas, the digital advertising unit of the Cisneros Group of
Companies, today announced the acquisition of Kontextua, an online advertising company
with an expansive network in Latin America and Spain that will strengthen the Group’s digital
presence in the region. In addition, RedMas will invest $2 million in Kontextua to develop
new digital advertising platforms and extend the online network's reach in Chile, Mexico,
Brazil, Colombia, and in the U.S. Hispanic market.
"Latin America’s $2.5 billion digital advertising market is growing at an accelerated rate of 15
to 20 percent annually. With Internet penetration at only 35% in the region, this market holds
vast potential for RedMas," says Cisneros Group’s Chief Digital Officer Victor Kong. "The
acquisition will not only contribute revenue to the Cisneros Group’s other sites, such as
www.venevision.com, www.noticierovenevision.net, and www.missvenezuela.com, but it will
also complement its business strategy of focusing on digital advertising, e-commerce, and
social gaming."
Kontextua was founded two years ago by German Herebia and Carlos Cordoba and
developed into an innovative online advertising platform for the creation and
commercialization of unexploited online advertising real estate, generating a new source of
income for its more than 12,000 Spanish- and Portuguese-language affiliated sites, reaching
over 60 million unique viewers. Kontextua’s technology scans website content, recognizing
texts and images that can serve as anchors for contextual advertising. Advertisers can then
select from a variety of content categories or key words related to their products or services,
and advertise with various audience segments.
With the acquisition, Mr. Herebia, co-founder of InZearch, and Mr. Cordoba, co-founder of
ePlanning, join the Cisneros Group’s digital management team.
“We are pleased to be part of an organization with a clear digital vision, and to be at the
forefront of the expansion of its online advertising businesses in the region as part of the
RedMas brand,” says Mr. Herebia.
Separately, Mr. Cordoba says, “We continue to focus on technological innovations in digital
advertising services, and now with RedMas’ support, we are certain to accelerate the
developmental process, enabling us to introduce several new innovations in the coming
months.”
Contacts:
Antonieta Lopez (212) 355-0620 / alopez@cisneros.com
Todd Michael Jamison (305) 507-6821 / tjamison@cisneros.com
George Simpson (203) 521-0352 / George@georgesimpson.com
2. ABOUT THE CISNEROS GROUP OF COMPANIES: The Cisneros Group of Companies is one of the
largest privately held media, entertainment, telecommunications and consumer products
organizations in the world. The Cisneros Group wholly owns or controls companies ranging from
broadcast television and television production to consumer products, and real estate. The Group sells
TV programming and other media content on five continents and in over 90 countries. Its media and
entertainment holdings include Venevision, the leading television network in Venezuela; Venevision
International, a global Spanish-language entertainment company; and Venevision Productions, a
supplier of top-tier telenovelas for North American and world audiences. In addition, the Cisneros
Group owns several digital assets, including RedMas, its digital advertising unit, Cuponidad, an online
couponing site, and the websites www.venevision.com, www.noticierovenevision.net, and
www.missvenezuela.com.
ABOUT KONTEXTUA: Kontextua is the leading contextual advertising network in Spanish and
Portuguese speaking markets, which allows sites and blogs to monetize their advertising inventory
across multiple formats, including in-text and in-image advertising. The network currently has more
than 12,000 affiliated websites reaching an audience of 60 million Spanish and Portuguese speakers,
and has over 800 advertisers with regional advertising campaigns.