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Batanga Media spins off Performance unit, shifts more Resources to its Content Brands

Batanga is reorganizing its business by spinning off its Performance Ad Network to be called Groovit Digital and allocating more resources to its core content brands Batanga.com and imujer.com. These brands will expand into new categories such as Finance, Career, Tech and Entertainment in the U.S. Hispanic market.

Content

What: Batanga is reorganizing its business by spinning off its Performance Ad Network to be called Groovit Digital and allocating more resources to its core content brands. These brands, which include Batanga.com and imujer.com, will expand into new content categories such as Finance, Career, Tech and Entertainment in the U.S. Hispanic market and Spanish-speaking Latin America.
Why it matters: The reorganization shows Batanga’s new focus on its core digital content brands reaching 40 million global unique visitors. The spinning off of the performance ad network reflects the increasing importance of programmatic sales.

batanga logoBatanga is reorganizing its business units. Effective immediately, the formerly known Batanga Performance will become Groovit Digital. Groovit Digital will incorporate all of the company’s performance network business, most of which was acquired in 2011 from AdFunky . Overseeing Groovit Digital will be Augusto Valente, Groovit Digital’s extensive inventory of well over 10 billion monthly ad impressions will continue to be accessible through AppNexus seat #1800.

Batanga Performance, the new Groovit Digital is not to be confused with Batanga Network. Rafael Urbina, CEO of Batanga Media, tells Portada: “About 16 months ago we began the process of transferring our entire inventory, both on our properties and on the Batanga Network to a new platform that would allow our advertisers to connect programmatically. In doing so, Batanga Network became the Batanga Media Exchange (BMX) and the inventory from AdFunky became Batanga Performance. Therefore the piece being spun-off is not Batanga Network, now known as Batanga Media Exchange.”

Expanded U.S. Hispanic Content offerings

Rafael Urbina, CEO, Batanga Media
Rafael Urbina, CEO, Batanga Media

The reorganization comes at a time when Batanga Media is shifting more resources to its core content brands, Batanga.com, iMujer.com, and BolsadeMulher.com (Brazil). Urbina tells Portada that Batanga is going to expand its content offerings for the U.S. Hispanic market. “On both iMujer.com and Batanga.com, we will be adding to the content offerings. On iMujer we are working on adding local content features in each of the key markets, as well as adding new finance and career content. As for Batanga.com, the content team has been working on launching an array of new categories including, tech, celebrity and general entertainment content. Since its launch in 1999, Batanga.com has strived to deliver Latin music and entertainment content that is above all authentic and rich with Latin culture. As the property’s audience grows and we invest heavily in additional content, authenticity and Latin culture continues to be key.”

In 2015, Batanga Media will launch a new Batanga Entertainment product in Brazil, introduce more content categories across all its properties and expand video, branded content, and more mobile app offerings. According to Urbina, this combination of fast-growing mobile and social properties, growing video product, and a powerful branded content solution positions the company for even larger growth in 2015 and beyond.

Is the Pendulum swinging back to Content?

Batanga initially comprehended a number of digital media properties (and a few print mags targeting the college market that were later folded), then several online ad networks were acquired starting in 2008 and in 2011 major mostly LatAm oriented ad networks AdFunky and I-Network were bought. Is the pendulum now shifting back to more emphasis on owned and operated media and content? Not necessarily, says Batanga CEO Rafael Urbina: “The digital media landscape is continuously evolving. We at Batanga Media pride ourselves in being able to adapt and implement new technologies and business models. Our third-party business continues to be a significant and strategic component of our overall business, even as we focus more resources into content development. We acquired several networks in order to gain a footprint that would allow us to sell both third-party inventory and O&O content. As you recall, shortly after making the Adfunky and iNetwork acquisitions, we also acquired Crovat and Bolsa de Mulher. The difference today, is that more of our third-party inventory is being sold through programmatic channels throughout the region (U.S. and Latin America).”

Asked whether this evolution means that Batanga is not going to sell premium advertising for third parties anymore, Urbina notes that ” No, we are still going to maintain the relationships with key third-party publishers and selling it under the Batanga Media Exchange. We are also looking at these relationships more and more as potential partnerships for distribution of our branded content platform.”

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