“d-force”: German Federal Cartel Office Approves Joint Venture between ProSiebenSat.1 and Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland

·   Complete addressable TV and online video inventory of both media houses to be available via a demand-side platform (DSP)

Unterföhring/Cologne, August 7, 2019. “d-force,” the pioneering joint venture between ProSiebenSat.1 and Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, has been given the green light. The German Federal Cartel Office approved the project on Monday, August 5, 2019. In the future, advertising customers will be able to reach their addressable TV and online video customers much more quickly: via an automated booking platform from ProSiebenSat.1 and Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland. Thomas Wagner, Chairman of the Executive Board of SevenOne Media: “We are delighted to get the green light from the German Federal Cartel Office and be able to press on with this project with Mediengruppe RTL. This makes booking addressable TV and video campaigns easier and much more attractive for advertising customers and opens up a new growth market for us.” Matthias Dang, Managing Director of Ad Alliance and Managing Director of Marketing, Technology, and Data at Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland: “Own content is our core strength, especially in the digital advertising market. We are particularly pleased that our customers will be able to book these high-quality and 100% brand-safe environments easily and via a uniform technology in the future. We are investing in a growth market here, and providing a genuine alternative to the international tech platforms.” The d-force and demand-side platform (DSP) service provides broad coverage in the German market in the fast-growing, high-demand advertising segments of addressable TV and online video—technologically from a single source and with an offer that is independent of whether viewers and users are to be reached via TV or online. At the same time, this strategic partnership between the two media houses will strengthen their technological independence from global tech platforms. By 2022, the market for addressable TV and online video in Germany is expected to be in the single-digit billion euro range. Currently, around 18 million TV sets in the German-speaking world are reachable by addressable TV—and therefore individualized advertisements. The basis of the new partnership is the demand-side platform Active Agent, which is part of the ProSiebenSat.1 Group’s Virtual Minds Group. ProSiebenSat.1 and Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland each hold 50% of d-force.