ProSiebenSat.1 acquires leading games providers

Munich, June 9, 2011. The ProSiebenSat.1 Group is again expanding its games business. The company is buying burda:ic, one of the leading European publishers of free online games, via its subsidiary company ProSiebenSat.1 Digital. burda:ic's "alaplaya" games platform alone is used by around 7 million players. ProSiebenSat.1 Digital has also acquired a controlling share in Covus Games. With browsergames.de, the Berlin company operates an extensive gaming portal with 1.8 million visitors a month. ProSiebenSat.1 Digital will initially acquire 51% of the business and the remaining portion will be transferred to the TV group in 2013. Thomas Ebeling, the ProSiebenSat.1 Group CEO, said: "The online games sector is the fastest growing segment in the entertainment industry worldwide. Our aim is to become one of the top three providers in Europe, and these acquisitions take us one significant step closer to achieving it." Optimal addition to the ProSiebenSat.1 games portfolio "The acquisition of burda:ic and browsergames.de is a perfect addition to the ProSiebenSat.1 games portfolio. alaplaya has a diverse games portfolio including blockbusters such as S4 League and ARGO, an international profile and a strong technical platform" says Arnd Benninghoff, CEO at ProSiebenSat.1 Digital. "This will enable ProSiebenSat.1 Digital to license games in the future itself, and its marketing power makes it an attractive partner for both German and international games developers. We can use our stake in the leading online games portal in Germany, browsergames.de, to expand our portal portfolio with attractive online gaming content. We will also therefore significantly increase our scope and distribution strength, making us an even more appealing co-operation partner for both new and existing collaborators. The boost to our online marketing power from these acquisitions will enhance our leading position in games marketing on European TV." ProSiebenSat.1: Five years of success in the games business ProSiebenSat.1 Digital has been active for over five years in the online games sector. With the two online gaming portals SevenGames.de and SAT1Spiele.de, the digital entertainment company of the TV group serves the two most profitable target groups in the German market. While SevenGames.de is primarily targeted at core gamers, generally young males who are regular players of online games, those who surf and play on SAT1Spiele.de are mainly casual gamers, i.e. female users over 30 years of age. With its portals, the entertainment company can promote both digital distribution of its own games and online games of various partners, such as Bigpoint, TravianGames and king.com. The ProSiebenSat.1 Digital games portfolio has featured three popular Europe-wide proprietary licences since 2009: the fantasy MMORPG (Massively-Multiplayer-Online-Role-Playing-Game) "Maestia", the 2D MMORPG "WonderKing" and the racing MMO "Drift City". "Maestia" has been available since the beginning of November 2010 and has well over 800,000 registered players. Online and browser games represent the strongest growth markets in the games industry. According to a recent survey by the Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung (GfK) [German consumer research company] for the Bundesverband Interaktive Unterhaltungssoftware e.V. (BIU) [German Association for Interactive Entertainment Software], in 2010 nearly one out of four Germans over 10 years of age played games on the Internet. The number of Internet gamers rose by 17% to 14.5 million compared to the previous year. The revenue from Internet games in Europe is approx. €2.6 billion; an increase of 10% compared to the previous year. Parklane Capital acted as Financial Advisor to ProSiebenSat.1 Digital in both transactions. About ProSiebenSat.1 Digital
ProSiebenSat.1 Digital (formerly SevenOne Intermedia) is responsible for the online, video and games business and the strategic sectors in close collaboration with the core TV business, such as Mobile and HbbTV. In the online video sector, the company includes broadcasting sites such as ProSieben.de and SAT1.DE as well as the video community MyVideo. About burda:ic & alaplaya
burda:ic GmbH is a leading publisher of free online games targeted mainly at Europe and North America, with its head office in Munich. The company markets and operates Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG) such as ARGO, S4 League and Florensia. The company's innovative alaplaya games platform alone has around 7 million registered users. About Covus
Amongst other things, Covus Games GmbH runs successful online games portals such as www.browsergames.de, www.browsergamez.com, www.browsergames.pl and www.browsergames.co.uk. Covus Games also offers consultancy services for the development and marketing of online games. Covus Games not only works closely with top international companies in the industry, but also offers a platform to young start-up companies to market their innovative products effectively. Contact: Julian Geist
Spokesman
ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG
Medienallee 7
D-85774 Unterföhring
Tel. +49 [89] 95 07-11 51
Fax +49 [89] 95 07-911 51
E-mail:
Julian.Geist@ProSiebenSat1.com Marcus Prosch
Head of Communicaton Sales & Diversification
ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG
Medienallee 7
D-85774 Unterföhring
Tel. +49 [89] 95 07-8920
Fax +49 [89] 95 07-98920
E-mail:
Marcus.Prosch@ProSiebenSat1.com Press Release online:
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