Over the last decade, MediaDonuts has established itself as the leading digital advertising technology company in Southeast Asia, with 10 offices, nearly 100 employees, partnerships with over 10 media & tech companies, and double-digit annual growth rates.
MediaDonuts announced an important new development in its growth journey:
a partnership with Entravision Communication Corporation, a diversified global media, marketing, and technology company.
Entravision’s acquisition of MediaDonuts will enable advertisers in Southeast Asia to reach a broader target audience by giving them access to more media platforms and advertising formats across search, social, and placement.
This partnership represents a significant milestone at a time when the pandemic is fueling rapid acceleration of digital advertising opportunities that are more measurable and effective than any traditional advertising platform.
“We remain committed to helping digital advertisers achieve their goals with the most sophisticated digital media strategies,” said Pieter-Jan de Kroon, Chief Executive Officer of MediaDonuts. “This new partnership with Entravision will enhance the solutions we can provide to our clients in Asia and continue to drive the results that have made MediaDonuts a valuable partner to so many brands and agencies.”
MediaDonuts Managing Partner, Pancharee Sitthisenee suggests that digital advertising opportunities beyond search and social will fuel future growth for the industry.
According to the recent report on the shape of the global advertising industry, gaming, e-commerce, and emerging platforms such as Spotify and TikTok will gain favor among brands as means to reach deeply engaged audiences.
The report suggests gaming’s young audience, with its growing purchasing power, reacts favorably to opt-in ads that reward gamers for engaging with brand advertising, and that brand leaders favor gaming for its personalization and brand safety.
The same report also says that personalization, in which advertisers can serve content to consumers based on past purchase behaviors, is a key factor in the pandemic-fueled growth in e-commerce. Advertising revenue in e-commerce is growing five times faster than the overall market.
“Our goal is to help brands use constantly emerging digital media for their diverse business needs,” said MediaDonuts Managing Partner Pancharee Sitthisenee. “Our partnership with Entravision will be very powerful in enabling us to make the most of this new frontier of emerging platforms to accelerate our clients’ growth.”
The MediaDonuts Journey
Since its inception, MediaDonuts has focused on how to best make use of new digital advertising technology.
MediaDonuts began in Europe when de Kroon and his friend and business partner Jim Kramp recognized burgeoning opportunities in the advertising technology sector. After finding success in Europe, the founders turned their attention to international markets.
For their first step into the Asia-Pacific region, de Kroon and his team set up MediaDonuts in India in 2014, where they quickly landed Google as a client with the goal of promoting Chrome.
“Since we were able to identify the browser of the user, which at the time was not a standard targeting feature, we could deliver excellent results and create great momentum for our company in India,” said de Kroon.
On the back of the initial success in India, MediaDonuts decided in 2015 to set up an office in Singapore with the goal of expanding into Southeast Asia.
Early on, the MediaDonuts team realized that Singapore, as the regional hub, attracted a lot of global media and ad tech companies who built very strong regional teams. MediaDonuts identified an opportunity to complement these other companies’ approach by building strong teams in local markets across the region.
In 2016, MediaDonuts set up offices in The Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, initially focusing on our performance marketing solutions. Shortly thereafter, Twitter appointed MediaDonuts as a regional sales partner, which led to many others following suit – including major digital brands such as Spotify, TikTok, Tinder and Criteo.
MediaDonuts’ efforts to diversify across different geographies in Southeast Asia and expand its services as demand for digital advertising technology grew made the company unique, which ultimately led to Entravision’s interest in a partnership.
“Our acquisition of MediaDonuts aligns with our goal of becoming one of the world’s leading digital marketing technology service providers,” said Juan Saldívar, Entravision’s Chief Digital, Strategy and Accountability Officer. “We have already begun collaborating with the MediaDonuts team on exciting and innovative projects, and we continue to expand our global footprint. I am confident that MediaDonuts’ industry expertise in the region will be an important contribution to Entravision’s growth strategy and global portfolio of digital offerings.”
The Future with Entravision
Although Entravision acquired 100 percent of MediaDonuts’ Asia-Pacific business,
de Kroon says that MediaDonuts will continue to build its brand in Southeast Asia, and that the leadership team and employees are on board with a plan to generate even more growth. Meanwhile, the MediaDonuts EMEA team led by Kramp will continue to operate independently under a new brand identity: SquareOne.
For de Kroon, the acquisition of MediaDonuts represents an opportunity to continue building upon his vision to create Asia’s best digital ad tech company. He believes that the acquisition will also provide his team with new opportunities for growth and leadership, and that Entravision’s scale and professionalism will bring a host of positive contributions to MediaDonuts clients and employees.
“The Entravision team is outstanding, and they will be great supporters,” said de Kroon. “I am confident that from commercial, technological, and product development perspectives our business will be even better as a combined entity. We will be a stronger company for our partners in terms of our products, finances, and operations, and we will be able to offer our advertisers a more holistic offering and value-added services with a global view.”
