TORONTO – Blue Ant Media last week sold its gaming content group Omnia Media to Enthusiast Gaming Holdings in a deal valued at $47 million.
The move will create the largest gaming media, esports and entertainment platform in North America by users, with 300 million video game and esports fans monthly, reads the Enthusiast press release.
The purchase price will consist of 18.25 million common shares of Enthusiast Gaming, $11 million in cash and a vendor-take-back note with a face value of $5.75 million. Using today’s Enthusiast share price ($1.66), this means the transaction is valued at $47 million.
Based in Los Angeles, Omnia is a global gaming YouTube platform which creates, manages and operates a multi-channel YouTube network that distributes premium, original content. Omnia produce sand programs over 30 weekly shows across AVOD (advertising-based video on demand)and OTT (over-the-top) channels and represents over 500 gaming influencers across YouTube and Twitch, says the press release.
Its distribution network reaches over 90 million unique viewers and boasts a significant U.S. market inventory of over 1,000 channels, over 500 million subscribers and over 3.2 billion monthly total video views.
“The transaction will make Enthusiast Gaming the largest gaming media, esports and entertainment platform in North America by users and visitors, according to ComScore, with over 100 affiliated web properties, over 1,000 YouTube channels, more than 26 million YouTube subscribers on owned and operated channels and over 500 gaming influencers. Combined, the portfolio will reach over one billion views on website properties and over 4.2 billion views across all channels monthly, with over 75% of views being premium video. The combination also provides expansion opportunities into new distribution channels via Omnia’s established presence including Snapchat, Twitch, Amazon, Roku, Samsung and Twitter,” adds the release.
Blue Ant is expected to own approximately 18% of Enthusiast Gaming upon completion of the transaction.
