KUALA LUMPUR: Media Prima Digital Sdn Bhd’s wholly-owned subsidiary, REV Asia Holdings Sdn Bhd has acquired 25 per cent stake in Monster Scape Sdn Bhd, the owner and publisher of Chinese social news portal TanTanNews - www.tantannews.com.
As part of the deal, REV Asia will be representing the online news portal as the exclusive advertising reselling partner.
TanTanNews is a Chinese language social news media and content portal that primarily focuses on latest news and trendiest stories on entertainment, travel, fashion, and lifestyle.
Launched in 2013, it has grown into a prominent brand and source for many visitors from Malaysia and across the region.
According to Google Analytics, TanTanNews recorded a total of 2.8 million page views and one million users in November 2018.
TanTanNews founder Sean Teoh said joining Malaysia's largest media group will enable the firm to help more advertisers reach out to its audience, while it leverages on Media Prima Digital's platforms to build more creative contents.
“This partnership will also allow us to focus on our technology for building more innovative products to serve all users across Media Prima Digital and TanTanNews," he added.
REV Asia managing director Voon Tze Khay said the acquisition of TanTanNews will further strengthen its dominant position in the millennial Chinese-speaking online community, and enable REV Asia to expand to users in the social news and entertainment segments.
“As the pioneer and leader in providing sponsored content solutions to advertisers in Malaysia, the addition of TanTanNews will allow REV Asia to scale at a rapid pace in helping potential advertisers reach out to the younger Chinese market inclined to reading news content,” he said.
“In addition to sponsored content, REV Asia will also extend its small and medium enterprise content offerings to TanTanNews.”
Media Prima Digital chief executive officer Rafiq Razali said the group is confident that the deal will solidify Media Prima Group’s position as the largest local digital media company in Malaysia as there is a huge demand for Chinese-language content from our audiences and advertisers.
“Given the popularity of TanTanNews among Chinese millennials and REV Asia’s expertise in providing sponsored content solutions, we see this as a sustainable solution to generate greater revenue,” he said.
Media Prima Digital has recently introduced Digital Ads Re-targeting via Sponsored Content, which will be extended to its Chinese language network.
“Moving forward, we will continue to look out for strategic acquisitions and partnerships that will drive growth for the Group in the digital segment, as well as complement our core businesses,” Rafiq said.