Quick Questions with Yangaroo on Acquisition of Digital Media Services
Yangaroo recently announced the acquisition of Digital Media Services Inc. (DMS), a TV/OTT/CTV and video advertising and content management delivery business based in New York City
Yangaroo asked Emmelie Forsyth to organise a Zoom call with Grant (CEO), Jeff (now President, Digital Media Services at Yangaroo), Dom (CFO), and Rich (CTO) to discuss what this acquisition means to all involved, including the market, shareholders, staff, and clients being stakeholders of two companies that each have been in existence for over 20-years.
Emmelie comments: "I opened with congratulations, of course. They deserve the credit and guts to move forward in these uncertain times. Within six months of Grant’s appointment to CEO, they are gearing themselves up for growth. On the call, it was refreshing to see a group of individuals with so much positive energy. I also must admit upfront, I am a consultant to Yangaroo and have been helping them out with other business development initiatives. When Grant suggested I hold a town-hall Q&A meeting, I just jumped at it. Here are some extracts from what I believe is interesting for all who use Yangaroo today or consider using them in the future."
Q> This is BIG news to the industry. How did this come about?
Grant> This is Yangaroo’s first-ever acquisition, and we could not be happier welcoming New York’s Digital Media Services (DMS) to the family. Yangaroo and DMS developed a great relationship together over the years, and the executives and staff all pretty much knew or at least knew of each other in the industry. We shared a common passion for caring and looking after our client’s needs, always first and foremost, and ensuring they get the attention they deserve. This common goal was what initiated the discussion between Jeff and me down in the Meatpacking District in Manhattan. We knew that combining two recognized technology-based service companies would open further opportunities to grow Yangaroo into a more significant valued middle layer of technology and service for the advertising industry. With that, here we are, together and ready to continue our shared vision.
Q> What happens now that the acquisition is completed and announced?
Rich> Well, for now, it’s business as usual. The services and operations will remain unchanged for the time being. We’re currently planning to bring this business together; however, knowing it’s all about growth, we will be looking forward to working together and lifting the quality and level of technology and services to meet the market needs. The co-existence of our platforms will continue for the time being, but over time we will eventually move to a single platform. Our aspirations with our technology are immense. We are lining up additional features and functionality that will simplify the complexity of getting creative to the screen to the correct technical specification, under the proper industry approvals, and providing its results once it is aired or published. The experience will be our take on driving forward a round-trip experience to help marketers improve their control and decision-making, making creative management, accessibility, delivery, and performance results as accessible and as simple and easy as possible.
Q> How will Yangaroo and DMS come together?
Grant> For now, and to ensure our client’s services remain unaffected, we are running the two businesses side-by-side until we carefully adjust to streamline the technology and back-end services. We’re all about growth, so every staff role will remain in place. Our only announcement so far is Jeff’s role is now President of the Digital Media Services division at Yangaroo, and Dee Hovland is now the SVP – Project Management, which is necessary to work as one management team moving forward. All other roles and titles remain unchanged.
Q> What is Yangaroo’s unique market position?
Jeff> The two companies joining forces make a great statement to the industry. We are building to compete with the bigger competitors while providing white-glove local market expertise against the smaller boutique vendors. Everyone likes competition. We love it and can’t wait to compete and show the industry our true differentiation and value. We are positioning ourselves to compete in the market fairly, and we now have an A-class team to do so. Yangaroo is here to participate in the industry long-term, and we’re going to build the best services with the latest technology.
Yangaroo and DMS also complement each other across our US and Canadian presence. With the combined complementary teams, we will continue to support our clients daily and ensure every need is met. With the now combined local presence across the USA, this deal compliments Yangaroo across the key USA advertising markets. With the encouragement and involvement with our clients, we will be continuing to develop a platform that provides every reason a brand advertiser needs to add it to their supply-chain procedures and management.
The meeting went on for quite some time. We spoke a lot about the linear TV, OTT, and CTV markets and how viewers are shifting their viewing habits, alongside the connection with digital video streaming with YouTube and video across all the social media sites.
Grant> The continual shift and transformation of broadcasters always presents exciting opportunities for Yangaroo. For instance, we were just signed up by an OTT content platform to build out a video submission platform using our technology. So, we’re evolving too, and not resting on our laurels with video and spot delivery. Our music platform for independent music artists receives more subscriptions than we have ever received. The Awards division just signed up another year for most of the entertainment awards shows. Specifically, with our advertising solution offering, we are expanding our services. Already a recognized platform for creative delivery to broadcasters, we have extended our solution to include captioning, legal clearance, long-form content distribution, and working further towards our vision of being a true round-trip experience for content owners needing to receive accurate performance results to make a better budgetary decision through clever campaign scheduling decisions.
Q> How was the acquisition experience? Most companies keep this process very tight-lipped. However, now that it’s done, what’s your insight for other smaller up-and-coming start-ups?
Dom> Every acquisition is unique, and going through this experience presented many challenges. However, myself and others have the expertise to drive this strategy forward. It’s never easy acquiring another company, one that is recognized as a competitor and as a client at the same time. We considered DMS a recognized complementary service with a great client base and trusted them immensely. That’s what drew us to DMS as our first acquisition opportunity, along with DMS’s team and talent that are as passionate as we are, making the advertising management and delivery solution the best in the market. The acquisition effort required kept me, Grant and Jeff, very busy but also incredibly thankful we had the right partners helping us with the due diligence, legal and financial matters, along with some excellent assistance and insight from Yangaroo’s board of directors.
Reported by Emmelie Forsyth, a recognised industry expert in the advertising delivery market internationally, entrepreneur, founder of Conference Concierge
