Cisneros Group’s RedMas Buys Online Ad Outfit

MIAMI: RedMas, the Cisneros Group’s digital advertising unit, has purchased Kontextua, an online ad company with business lines across Latin America and Spain.

Kontextua was formed two years ago by German Herebia and Carlos Cardoba. With the acquisition, Herebia, co founder of InZearch, and Cordoba, co-founder of ePlanning, join the Cisneros Group’s digital management team. RedMas is also investing $2 million in the company to develop new digital advertising platforms and extend the online network’s reach in Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and in the U.S. Hispanic market.

"Latin America’s $2.5 billion digital advertising market is growing at an accelerated rate of 15 to 20 percent annually. With Internet penetration at only 35 percent in the region, this market holds vast potential for RedMas," said Cisneros Group’s chief digital officer, Victor Kong. "The acquisition will not only contribute revenue to the Cisneros Group’s other sites, such as venevision.com, noticierovenevision.com and missvenezuela.com, but it will also complement its business strategy of focusing on digital advertising, e-commerce, and social gaming."

“We are pleased to be part of an organization with a clear digital vision, and to be at the forefront of the expansion of its online advertising businesses in the region as part of the RedMas brand,” added Herebia.

Cordoba commented, “We continue to focus on technological innovations in digital advertising services, and now with RedMas’ support, we are certain to accelerate the developmental process, enabling us to introduce several new innovations in the coming months.”