Sony Pictures Television To Acquire Majority Stake In IMS Internet Media Services, Leading Latin American Digital Ad Sales And Marketing Company

MIAMI, July 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --  Sony Pictures Television (SPT) has signed an agreement to acquire a majority stake in IMS Internet Media Services (IMS), one of Latin America's largest ad sales and media buying firms in the digital space.  The agreement was announced today by Andy Kaplan, president of worldwide networks for SPT, and Gaston Taratuta, CEO, Founder and Partner for IMS.  The deal is expected to close in several weeks pending regulatory approval.

"Gaston and his team are experts in the digital space and they have created a fantastic business across Latin America," said Kaplan.  "With the sector growing exponentially and evolving quickly, we're looking forward to working together to grow our collective businesses.  Additionally," Kaplan added, "we will integrate practices and intelligence with our networks and ad sales teams in the region and globally, making this an excellent extension of our current business."

"SPT combines powerful programming with an international infrastructure and a leading leadership team," noted Taratuta. "We look forward to the synergies these will bring to joint initiatives within Latin America and new regions."

IMS is the largest independent digital ad sales company in Latin America and the largest digital media buyer in the region.  Headquartered in Miami, the company also has offices in eleven countries throughout the region.  Current commercial partnerships include Waze, Twitter, LinkedIn, Spotify, Crackle, iAds and Foursquare, among others. Taratuta will continue as CEO; Ignacio Vidaguren as COO; Maren Lau as CMO; and Mariano Roman as CCO, and nosignificant changes to the business are currently planned. 

The digital ad sales outlook for Latin America is poised for double-digit growth over the next five years, in a region where mobile connections already surpass 120% of the population.  According to the IMS Mobile in LatAm study in conjunction with comScore, more than 60 percent of users of mobile apps such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Spotify and Waze consider that these are very important in day-to-day life.

About IMS
IMS Internet Media Services (IMS) is a leading digital marketing and communications company that partners with fast-moving businesses seeking to expand into and within Latin America. IMS helps brands reach new levels of engagement through its exclusive ecosystem of commercial partnerships, creative and content solutions, and media investment and management services. Leading brands such as Apple, Twitter, Waze, Crackle, LinkedIn, Foursquare, and Spotify have partnered exclusively with IMS to strengthen their presence in Latin America. IMS is headquartered in Miami with offices in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Panama, Peru, Ecuador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Uruguay.

About SPT
Sony Pictures Television (http://www.sonypicturestelevision.com), a Sony Pictures Entertainment company, is one of the television industry's leading content providers, producing and distributing programming worldwide in every genre and for every platform. In addition to one of the industry's largest libraries of award-winning feature films, television shows and formats, Sony Pictures Television (SPT) boasts a current program slate that includes top-rated daytime dramas and game shows, landmark off-network series, original animated series and critically acclaimed primetime dramas, comedies and telefilms. In addition to its US production business, SPT has 19 wholly-owned or joint venture production companies in 13 countries and also maintains offices in 31 countries. SPT's worldwide television networks portfolio includes 150 channel feeds available in 178 countries, reaching more than 1.3 billion cumulative households worldwide. SPT also creates original content for and manages the studio's premium video website, Crackle. Additionally, SPT own US production company Embassy Row and is a part owner of the cable channel Game Show Network (GSN).  SPT advertiser sales is one of the premier national advertising sales companies and handles the commercial inventory in SPT's syndicated series as well as the Rural Media Group and DoctorOZ.com.

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SOURCE Sony Pictures Television