Delhi based LiveMedia, an out-of-home TV company, has bought a controlling stake in Tag Media, an in-store television network, sources close to the development told VCCircle.
While the transaction details are not known, a source, calling the deal a "strategic fit," told VCCircle, " LiveMedia has bought a sizeable stake in Tag Media." Industry sources peg the deal value at $4 million.
Emails sent to LiveMedia spokesperson did not elicit any response at the time of posting this article.
The website of Tag Media lists Rajan Mehta, Founder of LiveMedia and former VP of Nortel Networks in India, as one of its Directors.
Both LiveMedia and Tag Media are funded companies. In 2007, Live Media raised an undisclosed sum from Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Bay Partners while Tag raised money from Intel Capital the same year. An email sent to Intel Capital's spokesperson said that they would not like to comment on the story.
These companies are in the business of placing LCD screens in captive environments such as restaurants, corporate offices, BPOs, gyms, salons and hospitals where people of identifiable demographics congregate. The screens show entertainment and information oriented content, engaging and entertaining the audience and providing an effective platform for advertisers to reach out to their target customers.
LiveMedia likes to position itself as a "Captive Audience Networks” than a vanilla Out of Home Advertising Company. It claims to be present in 2,400 locations through 5,000 screens spread over 80 cities and towns and addressing over 50 million footfalls in a month. The company is essentially targeted at the youth and brings out content which matches with their outlook and lifestyle.
The OOH space has seen a lot of action from VCs in the recent past. vJive had raised $4.5 million backing from Matrix Partners India, while the Mumbai-based OOH Media is backed by private equity fund 3i. Sequoia Capital India has also invested about $2 million in an in-store media company Digital Signage Networks (DSN). R Ramaraj, a senior advisor of Sequoia Capital India, is on the board of DSN.
