The European online content group Populis expands its activities in South America after the acquisition of the Brazilian Cidade Internet. The group headed by the Italian entrepreneur Luca Ascani released the following press release to announce the operation.
Populis, Europe’s largest online vertical media publisher, has today announced the acquisition of one of Brazil’s most well known web portals, Cidade Internet <http://www.cidadeinternet.com.br/>, for an undisclosed sum, firmly establishing its position as a pioneer in Brazil’s booming content production sector (www.cidadeinternet.com.br).
The acquisition, which strengthens the media group’s global reach with two additional offices in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo and will include an additional staff of 30 by year end, is a strategic move to increase market share in Brazil, where Populis <http://www.populis.com/> already generates over 2.6 million unique monthly users and 10 million pageviews via its Blogo network.
Together with a burgeoning online population spending $6.5 billion in 2010 and growing 40% year on year, the online advertising sector in Brazil has become one of the most interesting globally, in particular since the country overtook the UK as the world’s 6th largest economy at the end of 2011.
Cidade Internet is one of Brazil’s oldest web portals, providing information, entertainment and web services to its users for over 12 years and provides Populis with a perfect platform on which to build premium vertical content offerings on a growing network already attracting 120 million pageviews and over 30 million visits a month.
This latest acquisition adds a further 10 web properties and an extensive vertical network to its Brazilian operations, which already includes some of the country’s top blogs such as FofocandoBlog<http://www.fofocandoblog.com/>, AutomovelBlog <http://www.automovelblog.com/> and DasmariasBlog<http://www.dasmariasblog.com/>.
Populis now owns and operates over 600 websites trough its media brands Excite Europe, Blogo, Blogosfere, and Cidade Internet as well as 700,000 websites in the mokono network. The properties collectively drive over 35 million monthly unique users keen to engage with its dynamic content totalling over 35,000 items every month.
“We are very excited by the acquisition of Cidade Internet in Brazil,” says Luca Ascani, Co Founder and Chairman of Populis. “The country’s economy is bucking the global recession trend and the population of 195 million provides a huge domestic marketplace with spending power. We will be investing significantly into our Brazilian operations during the coming year and expect the market to quickly become a key revenue stream for the group.”
“Brazil is experiencing tremendous growth and the population is excited by the opportunities offered by the digital economy. It is the right time to open operations in a growth market and we are delighted to become part of Populis. The acquisition provides the group with a key asset in South America, and by integrating Cidade Internet fully under the Populis umbrella, we benefit from unrivalled digital publishing expertise – both in content production, distribution and monetisation,” said Rodrigo Tigre, Country Manager Brazil, Populis, who joined the Group from the digital media company Bolsa de Mulher.
Cidade Internet will be fully integrated into Blogo, Europe’s leading vertical content network, and will provide a single entry point to the vibrant professional blogs and websites within the whole network. Investments into content production and an expert sales team will continue throughout 2012.
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