oOh!Media acquires digital news group Junkee

Outdoor advertising group Oh!Media’s acquisition of Junkee Media is part of a broader strategy.

oOh!Media chief executive Brendon Cook says the outdoor advertising group’s acquisition of digital news group Junkee Media is part of a broader strategy to focus more on content and native advertising.

oOh!Media agreed on Friday to pay $11.05 million for 85 per cent of Junkee, implying a $13 million valuation, which operates youth-orientated websites Junkee, inthemix, FasterLouder and native content platforms AWOL and The Cusp, in a transaction as revealed by The Australian.

Many in the market were surprised by the deal because oOh!Media is known for its large-format signs and billboards, but Mr Cook said the move into content had begun with the launch of the company’s QView news screens in Qantas airport lounges in 2014, and was followed by Hijacked platforms seen in universities across the country.

“These are new revenue streams coming from new areas and new fields, showing how the new out of home works compared with the old out of home,” Mr Cook told The Australian.

“It’s about combining the physical and unmissable presence of out-of-home with headline content and driving it to the deep embedded play via the online publication.”

Citic CLSA’s Mark Dorney advised Junkee on the sale.

Junkee’s youth audience is attractive to traditional media companies that are finding it increasingly difficult to resonate with millennials who spend more time on their smart phones and social media.

The news came after free-to-air television group Nine Entertainment took a controlling stake in fellow online youth-focused news group Pedestrian TV last year.

Mr Cook said oOh!Media had first identified Junkee as a target in 2014.

“We liked the way they were approaching the changes to viewing habits by using social media but at the time we knew they were an evolving model.”