Meredith Expands Digital Capabilities With Acquisition Of Selectable Media

MeredithCorporation (NYSE:MDP; www.meredith.com), the leading media and marketingcompany serving American women, announced today that it has acquiredSelectable Media, a leading native and engagement-based advertising company.Meredith introduces an updated market positioning and logo that reflect thestrength of Meredith's national and local consumer media brands as well as itsexpanded portfolio of marketing solutions."The addition of Selectable Media further enhances our ability to offerclients innovative native and engagement-based advertising solutions acrossboth Meredith Digital's audience of more than 60 million monthly uniquevisitors and Selectable Media's extended media network," said MeredithNational Media Group President Tom Harty. Selectable Media provides advertisers with a unique way to engage audiencesthrough native advertising solutions and by providing ad-supported access tocontent that is most relevant to the lives, interests and passions ofconsumers. Selectable Media's ad products are cross-platform – includingtablet, mobile and desktop – and enable marketers to reach consumers whereverthey consume content in a way proven to drive better engagement. SelectableMedia's impressive client list includes companies such as Merck, Capital One,GEICO, PetSmart, Del Monte and Chipotle."With its unique ability to deliver 100 percent viewable and engagement-basedvideo and native advertising to real audiences, Selectable Media deepens ourability to provide marketers with an unparalleled suite of industry-leadingand large-scale branded content creation, distribution and optimizationsolutions, " said Jon Werther, President of Meredith Digital. "Thecombination of our branded environments, high-quality and engaged audience,rich first-party data and ad technology platforms continues to enable us tomaterially improve advertising results for clients throughout the purchasefunnel – from brand awareness to guaranteed lifts in sales."As part of the acquisition, Selectable Media Chief Executive Officer MattMinoff will oversee Meredith Digital's ad products and operations and ChiefOperating Officer Marc Rothschild will oversee all of Meredith Digital'sadvertising sales, sales marketing, and account management teams. They willreport to Werther and be based in Meredith's New York offices. "We are excited to become a part of Meredith's best-in-class digital mediabusiness, and are looking forward to unlocking new revenue categories andopportunities that can leverage its rich content, audience and consumerdatabase," said Minoff. "Marrying Selectable Media's proven success indigital video and branded content distribution with Meredith's expertise inbranded content ideation and creation provides an incredible end-to-endsolution for our advertising and marketing clients.The addition of Selectable Media follows a series of acquisitions andexpansions by Meredith Digital including: o The acquisition of Allrecipes.com, the world's largest digital food content destination. o An agreement with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia to operate MarthaStewart.com, Marthastewartweddings.com and the Martha Stewart video content library. o The acquisition of Mywedding.com, a top wedding website and ad platform that features a complete wedding planning suite, and offers national and local merchants targeted advertising opportunities. o The expansion of Meredith's audience-targeting and private programmatic operations creating opportunities for marketers to reach Meredith's audiences using first-party premium data and content."We continue to look for strategic acquisitions, partnerships and investmentopportunities like these to expand our reach, augment our real-time targetingcapabilities, drive improved advertising performance and create additionalshareholder value," said Meredith Chief Development Officer John Zieser. The acquisition of Selectable Media will not have a material effecton Meredith's fiscal 2015 financial performance. Meredith will provide moredetail when it reports its fiscal 2015 second quarter results on January 28,2015.