Aegis Media takes grip on digital-media buying, performance marketing

Aegis Media yesterday announced it has entered into a majority-stake joint venture with Chinese digital marketing company Beijing Adsit Technology to form iProspect China.

Specifically, the exisitng iProspect network in Asia-Pacific provides paid search, social media strategy, search engine optimisation, display media, comparison of shopping engines, mobile marketing and attribution modeling services. Cindy Xue, currently COO of Adsit, will be appointed CEO of iProspect China. Upon establishment of the joint venture, iProspect China's gross assets will be US$4.7 million (RMB 30 million).

The JV will have a team of 60 in its Shanghai and Beijing offices, and will ensure a strengthened position for iProspect in the Chinese market, according to Nick Waters, CEO of Aegis Media Asia Pacific.

Aegis has been in past cooperation with the company, co-building the DigiEQ software for management of digital media investments, as well as buying online video ads on Baidu TV via the Adsit ad network.

Adsit will now provide Aegis access to its search-driven e-commerce platform and data pool in performance marketing. KF Lee, CEO of Aegis Media Greater China, added that search-driven e-commerce is an untapped market that will quickly exceed that of search alone.

Last week, Aegis Group also acquired Catch Stone, mainly for its scale in digital media buying and particular specialism in the automotive and financial sectors. Catch Stone's clients in these sectors include Audi, Nissan, SAIC-GM-Wuling (SGMW), Industrial Bank, Agricultural Bank of China and Inoherb. 

Catch Stone's 130 employees in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou will operate under a separate agency brand of Aegis Media in China, working alongside Carat, Vizeum, Isobar, iProspect and Posterscope.

Waters told Campaign Asia-Pacific that Catch Stone has real volume in media buying negotiations on a national and local basis and thus will increase the media trading leverage of Aegis.

Aegis said it would pay an initial US$86 million (RMB 550 million) for control of Catch Stone, but that the final price could be nearly triple that—US$236 million (RMB 1.5 billion)—if it significantly outperforms current forecasts over the next four years.