Amsterdam-based startup DFFRNT Media has raised a minority stake investment from Talpa Network, the one-stop shop of media billionaire John de Mol. Marketing and e-commerce business TCC Global also chipped in. Financial details about the transaction have not been disclosed.
DFFRNT Media was founded in 2016 by media veterans Taco Ketelaar, Bas Verhart and the most well-known among them, TV host and former Talpa executive Winston Gerschtanowitz. Ketelaar was previously a programming executive at Germany’s TV network ProSiebenSat.1. Bas Verhart and Winston Gerschtanowitz previously founded Media Republic, which they exited in an acquisition by GreyPossible in 2013.
DFFRNT Media seems to be a natural evolution of the adaptive mindset of the founders: build a company that not only has a knack for creating great content, but also uses the latest technologies available to meet the ever-changing customer tastes, demands and wishes. The company boost itself on bringing the world of content and technology together. Using AR and VR as vehicles to bring great content to the masses and digital advertising to sustain it.
The chances that DFFRNT Media will deliver valuable content measured against the uptake is quite plausible. The founders have a successful trackrecord in the media world and now have the backing of Talpa Networks. A umbrella organisation under which De Mol consolidated his media assets SBS6, Net5, Veronica, and SBS9. De Mol is the founding father of Reality TV through his inception and extremely successful execution of the Big Brother franchise and its successors.
On the face of it the investment from De Mol in DFFFRNT is not a big surprise. November last year De Mol blamed the Dutch government for letting the ever dominant tech companies like Google and Facebook and increasingly Chinese tech companies like Tencent destroying the market for everybody else.
Like almost all news and media organisations Most of Talpa’s assets are have an add-based revenue model. PWC research demonstrates that two-thirds of the global advertisement dollars got to Google, Facebook, Tencent, Baidu en Alibaba, blijkt uit onderzoek van PWC. In first quarter of 2017 99% of the online advertiment growth went to Google and Facebook.
I therefore expect more investments form De Mol in tech-savvy media companies.
The management team of DFFRNT Media issued the following statement: “We are moving towards a platform economy in which success is defined by the ability to engage people in a relevant and meaningful way. We are proud to bring two such international powerhouses on board within 12 months after the start of our company. Such investments will give us the ability to play on a global level.”
Photo by Drew Graham on Unsplash