Following rumors of a possible acquisition in 2019, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has found a deal for Unruly, the global video ad SSP. As reported first by Sky News, Unruly is being sold “at a huge discount” to video ad business Tremor International as News Corp sheds itself of a “loss-making” business unit.
News Corp bought UK-based Unruly in 2015 for roughly $150 million (half upfront guaranteed and the other half paid in potential performance incentives). Unruly was a hot commodity at the time, touting its ability to predict when video would go viral across social media. Per the official 2015 acquisition release, Unruly “uses historical sharing behavior to predict the potential for video ads to go viral across all digital touch points.”
For News Corp, a legacy media business seeking to compete with the BuzzFeeds and Vice’s of the world, Unruly was an opportunity to futureproof for digital and mobile. In addition, News Corp wanted to tap into Unruly’s data, team and technology to create premium new video formats for buyers. Ultimately, though, it never seemed like the two businesses ever aligned as closely as they needed to reach the deal’s PR promise (legacy media businesses buying digital-first ad businesses can be a challenge).
Still, Unruly has been the exclusive seller of News Corp’s video media spanning sites like The Sun and The Times. Unruly has also remained an “agnostic” SSP, selling other video media inventory through its platform. Unruly’s website lists Vogue, Time Out and National Geographic as some of the non-News Corp publishers they support. One wonders, however, whether some larger publishers might be skeptical of working with Unruly given their owner. (Could News Corp titles be prioritized for demand?)
Though News Corp is giving up Unruly for less than it paid, in exchange for Unruly, they will get a small equity stake in Tremor to the tune of 6.91% in international stock. In addition to securing Unruly’s assets, Tremor can also become an exclusive inventory seller for select News Corp properties. Per the release, the deal marks “the start of a three-year partnership with News Corp which will equip Tremor with the exclusive right to sell outstream video on more than 50 News Corp titles in the UK, US and Australia. Tremor International will also benefit from Unruly’s 2,000+ direct publisher integrations and unique demand relationships with the world’s biggest advertisers.”
On Twitter, Ari Paparo the CEO of ad tech in-housing firm Beeswax hailed the deal for Tremor. “Unbelievable deal for Tremor. Lots of revenue plus News Corp inventory for a bit of equity.”
Tremor International, of course, if no stranger to acquisitions. The company was founded as Marimedia in 2007. It later acquired Taptica in 2014, formally changing its name to Taptica in 2015. In 2017, they acquired Tremor Video’s DSP, then bought RhythmOne in 2019. After that, the company rebranded as Tremor International, supporting three divisions: Tremor Video (branded video advertising), RhythmOne (media) and Taptica (performance advertising).
