The Big OTT Weld: Deltatre Acquires Competitor, Massive Interactive for Over $100 Million

By Sudipto Ghosh On Nov 8, 2018

The Big OTT Weld: Deltatre Acquires Competitor, Massive Interactive for Over $100 Million

Together, Deltatre, the Largest Independent, End-To-End OTT Services Provider Worldwide, To Bring New Levels of Innovation to the Booming Industry

In a massive OTT weld deal, Deltatre has announced that it has a definitive agreement to acquire fellow competitor in the industry, Massive Interactive, a multi-award-winning OTT software company for a speculated sum of $127 million or more. Combined, these entities are the largest independent OTT solution provider in the world. The move builds on Deltatre’s record year, adding another best-in-class capability to its overall technology suite of services. It adds deeper operations in Asia and the South Pacific and expands the company into the entertainment industry. This will also result in new levels of innovation from the company. The deal is subject to customary approvals.

Massive launched 22 years ago and now has over 350+ staff across its London. Sydney, Prague, Singapore, Skopje, Brno, and New York offices.

At the time of this announcement, Giampiero Rinaudo, Deltatre Co-Founder, and CEO said, “This shift to OTT is accelerating throughout the world, and the ability to customize individual viewing experiences and create genuine consumer engagement is vital to the movement. Massive’s next-generation user interface and audience engagement software are proven to drive ARPU.”

Giampiero added, “The acquisition strengthens our leadership positions and expands us both globally and into important growth areas. Massive is a brilliant company and a fine addition for Deltatre.”

Massive’s next-generation user interface and audience engagement technology add a valuable new dimension to Deltatre as end-user-experience (UX) have become a difference-making resource for digital media growth. Massive will operate as a division of Deltatre which will have 18 offices worldwide, and nearly 1000 full-time staff, at the close. These pioneers in the Beyond TV movement will reach hundreds of millions of viewers via OTT network in sports, entertainment, communications, and aviation.

Massive’s ground-breaking UX management console, ‘AXIS’, underpins sports and entertainment OTT streaming services for the BBC Worldwide, Bell Media, Channel 5, Telecine, Sony Pictures Television, DR and numerous other high-profile clients. It is a valuable addition to ‘Amplify’, Deltatre’s sophisticated OTT platform and completes the most advanced end-to-end OTT product suite for all media. Amplify is currently serving the ATP’s Tennis TV, NFL Game Pass Europe, Juventus Pass, FINA TV, and several others.

“Deltatre is one of the most prominent and experienced technology companies in the world of live sport and therefore the ideal partner to help accelerate our global growth strategy,” said Ron Downey, Massive Co-Founder, and CEO.

Ron added, “The integration of our targeted UX platform, Massive AXIS, with Deltatre’s robust product portfolio will combine to offer our customers a highly scalable, quick-to-market solution that drives engagement and increase the profitability of over-the-top video services. We are also very impressed with Deltatre’s people and culture and feel that we share the same values. By coming together, we are creating a business that will undoubtedly be the leading B2B vendor for live and OTT video platforms globally.”

The move builds on Deltatre’s unprecedented year. From virtual broadcast studios to OTT services, state-of-the-art digital platforms, real-time content and data syndication, and cutting-edge broadcast graphics, Deltatre has been omnipresent on all continents and for the most viewed sports events delivering state-of-the-art art productions for nearly a hundred broadcasters and rights holders combined. Billions of fans have consumed its work.

Deltatre is a Bruin Sports Capital company. Bruin CEO and Founder George Pyne said, “For a company that is already the leader in its sector with an incomparable range of world-class products, it can be a challenge to find strategic additions that enhance core strengths and accelerate growth. The move by Deltatre does exactly that. It adds another dimension to its value proposition to the sports industry and expands the company into the entertainment sector which will quickly see the value of Deltatre’s three decades of game-changing media innovation.”

Gibson Dunn served as legal advisor for Deltatre and HSBC was the financial advisor. Massive’s legal advisor was DLA Piper; its financial advisor is Raymond James.

Currently, Massive builds a suite of tools that enable all media companies to deliver targeted and personalized user experiences across devices to specific user groups, in real-time, helping accelerate growth and increase retention across the customer lifecycle. This includes Massive AXIS, a UX management console that gives non-technical product owners complete control over the look and feel of the user interface, across devices.