ProSiebenSat.1 takes majority stake in programmatic ad specialist

German commercial broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 is to take a majority stake in programmatic advertising specialist Virtual Minds.

United Internet-backed, Freiburg-based Virtual Minds is a specailsit in digital advertising and technology, with its own data centre and expertise in the automated selling and buying of digital advertising.

Core elements of Virtual Minds’ programmatic advertising systems include Yieldlab, which allows publishers and marketers to sell their ad inventory in real time through an automated process, Active Agent  for real-time media purchasing for agencies and advertisers, and ADITION Unified ad servers. The group also has a number of minority interests, including in the ADEX data management platform in Berlin.

Investor United Media will continue to hold a 25.1% stake in the company, while Virtual Minds’ founders and management will remain involved in its ownership. The deal is subject to approval by German competition authorities.

 “Virtual Minds is one of the pioneers in the dynamically growing market for programmatic advertising and has had an impressive success story. We now intend to continue that success story together with the excellent management team and United Internet. Our goal is to further establish Virtual Minds on the German and European market as a first-rate alternative to products from global advertising technology players,” said Christian Wegner, digital director at ProSiebenSat.1 Group.

“ProSiebenSat.1’s entry as an additional strategic investor alongside United Internet will allow us to sustainably expand our extensive digital and media technology expertise for the future market in digital and programmatic advertising. This will allow us to provide display and video advertising platforms to publishers, marketers, agencies, and advertisers from a single source in the future that are geared even more specifically to their specific needs and the quality demands of the German and European digital market,” said Andreas Kleiser, founder and CEO of Virtual Minds.