Adrian J Cotterill, Editor-in-Chief
The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) this week (finally) approved the acquisition of Exterion Media by Global, the Media & Entertainment group, enabling Global to move forward with the full launch of its new Outdoor division, following the simultaneous purchases of Primesight and Outdoor Plus in September 2018 and Exterion Media in November 2018.
Along with Primesight and Outdoor_Plus’s UK OOH assets, the addition of the Exterion portfolio also makes Global a market-leading outdoor company in Ireland, France, The Netherlands and Spain as well as one of the largest outdoor advertising companies in the UK & Europe, Global is of course, already the largest commercial radio company in the UK.
Global’s new combined outdoor division holds the most diverse and complementary outdoor assets in the UK. It currently includes the Transport for London (TFL) advertising contract for London Underground and over 1,500 rail stations, including all four metro systems – Newcastle, Liverpool, London and Glasgow – the largest supplier of bus advertising in the UK, with more than 36,000 buses, and major airport advertising partnerships including Glasgow, Manchester, Stansted and Gatwick airports.
Global also has a substantial UK roadside presence of both digital and classic sites, including some of London’s most iconic premium digital sites. All told, Global has over 250,000 outdoor advertising points across the UK.
The acquisitions of Exterion Media, Primesight and Outdoor Plus, which create Global’s new combined outdoor division, represent the company’s most significant investments outside of its market-leading radio business and expand Global into continental Europe.
Created by Ashley Tabor OBE, Global owns Heart, Capital, LBC, Classic FM, Smooth, Capital XTRA, Gold and Radio X within its radio division and has grown to become the UK’s biggest commercial radio company.
Global also founded DAX, the pioneering digital advertising exchange platform, which connects advertisers to millions of listeners streaming music, digital radio and podcasts worldwide.
Stephen Miron, Group CEO, Global, told us “We are delighted that our acquisition of Exterion Media has now been formally approved by the CMA. Exterion, together with our recent purchases of Primesight and Outdoor Plus, will enable Global to make a huge impact in the outdoor market. As we have demonstrated over the last 11 years with our market leading radio business, we’re looking forward to bringing great innovation into the outdoor sector for advertisers as well as our new franchise and landlord partners.”
The press release stated that Global will now proceed with the integration of the three outdoor companies; Outdoor Plus, Primesight and Exterion, to form Global’s new outdoor division which will live alongside Global’s radio business. These changes are not expected to affect the radio division and should be complete by the autumn.
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