Azerion sets out its future strategic priorities

Amsterdam, 30 November 2022 – Today, Azerion has set out its strategic priorities in the journey to become the go-to-partner for advertisers for an easy-to-use, competitively priced and brand-safe digital environment. The Strategy Deep Dive presentation is available on www.azerion.com/investors.

Umut Akpinar, co-CEO of Azerion, comments: “I am excited to share details on our vision, mission and strategy with the market today, and all the levers we are pulling to deliver profitable organic growth. The fundamentals for the digital advertising market are strong, as audiences move more and more to digital. Our value proposition to advertisers, digital publishers, game creators and consumers makes us a truly innovative and differentiated platform and as we gain market share, we are set to continue delivering organic growth.”

Atilla Aytekin, co-CEO of Azerion, comments: “We have successfully completed 9 acquisitions so far this year, with the primary purpose of complementing our organic growth. With these acquisitions we can expand our offerings to advertisers and publishers from day 1 and, furthermore, we unlock exciting cross-selling opportunities across our platform. As our M&A pipeline becomes increasingly attractive under current macroeconomic conditions, we are assessing options to accelerate our growth.”

Strong business fundamentals
With an increasing number of internet users, research indicates that the digital advertising market is expected to deliver a CAGR of 14%, reaching a total market size of $800 billion by 2026. Despite the growth prospects, the digital advertising supply chain is still highly fragmented, with multiple layers between advertisers and digital publishers. Azerion is set to be a consolidator in this market and offer one integrated value proposition to advertisers becoming their go-to-partner for easy-to-use, competitively priced and brand-safe digital environment.

Unparalleled value proposition to advertisers
Azerion’s unique value proposition to advertisers is the integration of 5 core elements: content, audience reach, technology, creative ad formats and personal support.
With curated content that creates a brand-safe environment and reach audiences that exceed 500 million monthly active users (non-game and game audiences), integrated technology that runs 1 billion auctions every hour, creative ad formats that drive up to 20 times more user engagement and local teams that give unique support to optimise advertisers’ campaigns, Azerion strives to deliver enhanced returns on investment for advertisers.

Winning integrated platform business model
Advertisers seek audiences, while audiences seek content. Azerion’s integrated platform partners with digital publishers and game creators to bring content to consumers and work with advertisers. Azerion’s business model was developed around engaging audiences, and games were the way into audiences’ hearts. That is why Azerion is proud of its game content, which generates valuable insights into consumer behavior and unlocks a compelling extended value proposition to advertisers, who are seeking to engage with their audiences in the digital space, including in the metaverse and using digital collectibles.
Areas of growth for Azerion’s game content include the metaverse and the GameDistribution business, which partners with over a thousand game creators, in particular large studios seeking to unlock new revenue streams with free-to-play casual games.

Financial framework and performance
Azerion is reconfirming its 2022 revenue guidance of at least EUR 450 million, while also indicating that Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be above EUR 50 million.
While organic revenue growth remains a priority, improving profitability remains the main area of focus. With the listing and acquisitions, the cost base has gone up and Azerion expects to optimise costs by further integrating past acquisitions. Other levers to improve margins include growing sales volumes in direct sales to advertisers as well as publisher monetisation services, continuously developing new features that enhance user experience and increasing revenue per user in premium games.

Compelling growth prospects
As Azerion gains market share, it expects to grow organically. In addition to the organic growth opportunities, Azerion is working on an attractive pipeline of acquisitions. During the Strategy Deep dive, some examples will be shared to show how Azerion is extracting value from its acquisitions.

Join the webcast
The Strategy Deep Dive will consist of an online webcast, with a presentation from members of Azerion’s leadership team, followed by Q&A. The whole event is expected to last from 14:00 to 16:00 CET. Registrations are open via www.azerion.com/investors. The full presentation will be made available on the Azerion website shortly after the end of the Strategy Deep Dive.

Contact:
Investor Relations
ir@azerion.com

Media
press@azerion.com

DISCLAIMER
The companies in which Azerion Group N.V. directly and indirectly owns investments are separate legal entities. In this announcement “Azerion”, “Azerion Group” and “Group” are sometimes used for convenience where references are made to Azerion Group N.V. and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words “we”, “us” and “our” are also used to refer to Azerion Group N.V. and its subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them.

This press release is for information purposes only. The information contained in this press release does not purport to be full or complete and, in particular, is not intended to form the basis of any investment decision. No reliance may be placed by any person for any purpose on the information contained in this press release or its accuracy, fairness or completeness. Azerion will not be held liable for any loss or damages of any nature ensuing from using, trusting or acting on information provided.

This press release may include forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts may be forward-looking statements. Words and expressions such as believes, estimates, plans, projects, anticipates, expects, intends, may, will, should or other similar words or expressions are typically used to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that are difficult to predict and that may cause the actual results of Azerion to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements reflect Azerion’s current views and assumptions based on information currently available to Azerion’s management. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and Azerion does not assume any obligation to update such statements, except as required by law. No assurances can be given that the forward-looking statements will be realised. No representation or warranty is made that any of these forward-looking statements will come to pass or that any estimated result will be achieved. Accordingly, no undue reliance should be placed on any forward-looking statements.

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