Blinkx buys Prime Visibility Media Group

AIM-listed video search engine Blinkx has made its second acquisition of 2011 with the purchase of Prime Visibility Media Group (PVMG).

The $36 million (£22.4 million) deal means that PVMG joins Burst Media as businesses acquired by Blinkx this year and comes as the company announces a placing of shares to raise $15.1 million.

PVMG provides online advertising and digital marketing, and is based in New York State, US.

Blinkx chief executive officer Suranga Chandratillake says that online video advertising continues to be the fastest-growing format by a ‘significant margin’ and a market that is forecast to reach $3.5 billion in the next three years.

Chandratillake adds: ‘Brands continue to move an increasing amount of their advertising budgets to online video, but need to be able to reach an audience of equivalent size on the web.

‘We’re extremely excited about the acquisition because the integration of our video search engine with PVMG’s text search platform will enable us to tap into a new audience of intent-driven consumers and deliver TV-style brand advertising.’

In April, Blinkx, which is a spin-out from Cambridge data search company Autonomy Corporation and has its UK operations in London, acquired fellow AIM company Burst Media in a deal worth $30 million.

Blinkx provides a video search engine that has indexed 35 million hours of audio, video, viral and TV content.

Alongside the purchase of PVMG, Blinkx will place 6.5 million new ordinary shares in the company, representing 1.8 per cent of its existing issued ordinary shares.

Brian Mukherjee, chief executive officer of PVMG, comments: ‘As a close knit team with the shared sense of optimism to lead the next revolution of digital advertising, we are proud of our accomplishments at PVMG.

‘We believe the acquisition puts us at the very heart of one of the most dynamic sectors of the digital advertising industry – online video.’

Accidental Hero – Interview with Suranga Chandratillake

Todd Cardy

Todd Cardy

Todd was Editor of GrowthBusiness.co.uk between 2010 and 2011 as well as being responsible for publishing our digital and printed magazines focusing on private equity and venture capital.

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