BusinessWire: AppLovin to Acquire Wurl to Extend Reach Into Connected TV Market
AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ: APP), a leading marketing platform, today announced it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Wurl, a high-growth software platform in the Connected TV (CTV) market. The transaction is valued at approximately $430 million and is subject to customary closing conditions.
The acquisition will extend AppLovin’s software platform capabilities into the large and growing CTV market. In 2021, eMarketer projected that U.S. advertisers spent $14.4 billion on CTV, an increase of 60% compared to 2020, with ad spending projected to surpass $30 billion by 2025.1
“The acquisition of Wurl will further our commitment to building and growing the world’s largest, most-effective digital marketing platform by providing advertisers a seamless way to tap into the highly addressable and measurable CTV market,” said Adam Foroughi, CEO and co-founder of AppLovin. “We believe our software marketing expertise can further optimize the experience for advertisers and consumers as well as enable content companies to expand their audiences and increase monetization.”
Wurl’s Global FAST Pass platform enables content companies including A+E Networks, AMC Networks, Scripps, and Bloomberg to distribute streaming video content to more than 300 million TVs and reach over 30 million users globally each month. Wurl’s distribution platform yields unique access to CTV ad inventory and data that can be harnessed to further develop its CTV performance advertising products – Wurl AdPool and Wurl Perform. Wurl makes it effortless for content companies to build and track global distribution for branded linear channels, live events, and on-demand programming to manage and monetize their ad inventory.
“Our shared vision and values made the opportunity to join forces compelling and unique,” said Sean Doherty Sr., CEO and co-founder of Wurl. “AppLovin brings enormous new demand from advertisers and our partnership will enable current customers to realize even more benefits including expanded ad revenue, new viewers, and enhanced distribution to global CTV audiences. Together, we’ll pursue our mission and dramatically impact the CTV market.”
Wurl is expected to retain its brand and operate independently with its existing management team. The acquisition is expected to close in the first half of 2022 and be funded with approximately 55% cash and 45% AppLovin equity.
AppLovin will host a webcast and conference call today at 3:00 PM PT / 6:00 PM ET, during which management will discuss the acquisition news. The conference call can be accessed by dialing 1-844-826-3033 for domestic callers or 1-412-317-5185 for international callers. A replay of the call will be available until March 7, 2022 at https://investors.appLovin.com.
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati served as legal advisors for AppLovin, and Fenwick & West LLP acted as legal advisor for Wurl. LionTree Advisors acted as exclusive financial advisor to Wurl.
About AppLovin
AppLovin’s leading marketing software provides developers with a powerful, integrated set of solutions to grow their businesses. AppLovin enables developers to market, monetize, analyze and publish their apps. The company’s first party content includes more than 350+ popular, engaging apps and its technology brings that content to millions of users around the world. AppLovin is headquartered in Palo Alto, California with several offices globally.
About Wurl
Wurl, the world leader in powering streaming TV, interconnects over 1200 streaming channels from the world’s top content companies with the leading streaming distribution services in over 50 countries. Reaching over 300 million connected TVs around the globe, the Wurl Network platform helps leading studios such as A+E Networks, AMC Networks, Bloomberg, BBC Studios, CNN, Reuters and Sony, deliver programming to the biggest streaming platforms, including Amazon IMDb TV, Roku, Samsung TV Plus, Rakuten, Twitch, and VIZIO, while maximizing monetization. Wurl is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.
