09:20:00 EDT Tue 07 May 2024
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ZoomerMedia Ltd
Symbol ZUM
Shares Issued 287,634,950
Close 2024-02-20 C$ 0.025
Market Cap C$ 7,190,874
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ZoomerMedia closes Curiocity acquisition for $5-million

2024-02-20 18:37 ET - News Release

Mr. Moses Znaimer reports

ZOOMERMEDIA ANNOUNCES ACQUISITION OF CURIOCITY AMPLIFYING ITS DIGITAL PRESENCE IN CANADA

ZoomerMedia Ltd. has completed the acquisition of Curiocity Group Inc., one of Alberta's leading digital media publishers, with a presence in other key markets in Canada. Curiocity is focused on hyperlocal content with nearly four million daily readers who consume its up-to-the-minute local food and drinks, experiences, deals, and adventures. The aggregate purchase price of $5-million was paid in cash on closing.

This acquisition comes on the heels of ZoomerMedia's announcement last week that the company purchased Owen Sound's CJOS Bounce 92.3FM from Bell Media.

In fact, Curiocity marks ZoomerMedia's seventh acquisition in two years as founder and chief executive officer Moses Znaimer carries out his plan to expand the company's reach beyond its original core demographic, the 45-plus. Eighty-five per cent of Curiocity's audience is between the ages of 18 and 44.

Said Mr. Znaimer: "When I launched CityPulse in 1977, I said, 'The best TV tells me what happened to me, today.' Now, digital is how millennials and Gen Z get their local info. With blogTO, we own local in Toronto and the [Greater Toronto Area]. With Daily Hive, we own local in Vancouver and the [greater Vancouver area], and now with both Hive and the much admired Curiocity, we own local in Calgary and Edmonton. Curiocity, along with Daily Hive and LudwigVan, also have contributors in Ottawa and Montreal.

"Altogether, our reach represents over 90 per cent of the English-speaking population in Canada.

"Curiocity is the last piece in the puzzle and cements the Zoomer digital network as Canada's most dominant digital force with over one billion annual page views and social media engagements. Along with Everything Zoomer, The Peak, LudwigVan, blogTO, Daily Hive, and our legacy television, radio and print properties, Curiocity amplifies our ability to appeal to all generations regardless of the platform or genre of their choice."

Said Curiocity co-founders and siblings Mark Montanini and Lisa Briscoe: "From day one, our focus has been on building a business, a brand and a model that can go beyond just the two of us and our small, but accomplished, teams. Local is Moses's wheelhouse. His expertise, along with ZoomerMedia's guidance and large and robust sales force, will enable Curiocity to scale to new heights that would otherwise be impossible to achieve independently. We're excited about what the future holds for Curiocity and look forward to growing our monthly content views, already at over 250 million, across all platforms including the coveted Meta, where we remain available for business."

The purchase price was financed through loans from related parties (or their affiliates) of ZoomerMedia, being Mr. Znaimer and an affiliate of Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., in the aggregate principal amount of $5-million. The loans are unsecured, mature in one year and accrue interest at a rate of 5 per cent per annum. The loans are related-party transactions within the meaning of TSX Venture Exchange Policy 5.9 and Multilateral Instrument 61-101 (Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions), and the parties are relying on the exemptions from the valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 contained in sections 5.5(b) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101, as the company is not listed on a specified market and the fair market value of the loans does not exceed 25 per cent of the market capitalization of ZoomerMedia, respectively in accordance with MI 61-101.

About ZoomerMedia Ltd.

Founded by television and media icon Mr. Znaimer in 2008, ZoomerMedia is a multimedia company devoted to creating content, services and experiences for Canada's most powerful audiences: the 17.2 million people aged 45-plus also known as zoomers and the 13.7 million millennials and Gen Zs, coincidentally also called zoomers, who follow in their footsteps.

ZoomerMedia operates five TV, three radio, three print and 22 digital properties. ZoomerMedia produces original TV, radio and podcast programming, and offers clients creative audio and video production services and bespoke events on site at its 2.6-acre complex in Toronto's Liberty Village.

Television properties include: VisionTV, available in 7.5 million households, is Canada's home for British comedy and drama series, plus uplifting movies, music, news, and multicultural and multilingual faith programming; OneTV: the exercise and entertainment channel, combines original yoga, Pilates, tai chi and cardio fitness series with British serial soaps, dramas and American movies; JoyTV in Vancouver, Victoria, Surrey and the Fraser Valley, and Faith TV in Winnipeg are devoted to broadcasting Christian, multifaith and local content.

Zoomer digital network: reaching 18.5 million monthly active users with over a billion annual page views and social media engagements, ZDN comprises: Daily Hive and the Daily Hive website in Western Canada, Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes, among Canada's most followed news brands with over 10 million monthly active users, over 270 million annual page views and 3.1 million followers across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter (X), TikTok and LinkedIn; blogTO and the blogTO website, Toronto's unrivalled local publisher across digital and social media platforms, bringing in eight million monthly active users and over 213 million page views annually; Zoomer Magazine's, Canada's leading provider of on-line content targeting the 45-plus; The Peak, serving 150,000 Canadian professionals and business leaders with the top global business, finance and technology stories of the day packaged in smart, fast and easily digestible formats; and Ludwig Van, Canada's leading and fastest-growing digital voice for the latest classical, opera, chamber and choral music headlines, reviews, comments, and personality driven features and interviews.

Radio properties include: the New Classical FM, Canada's only commercial all-classical music radio station broadcasting over three frequencies in a unique regional Ontario network: 96.3FM CFMZ-FM Toronto (GTA), 103.1FM CFMX-FM Cobourg (Eastern Ontario) and 102.9FM CFMO-FM Collingwood (Southern Georgian Bay); Zoomer Radio, the original greatest hits, the biggest broadcast footprint in Canada also reaching 28 American states, and broadcasting simultaneously both in AM and FM in Toronto (740AM CFZM-AM and 96.7FM CFZM-FM); and the newly acquired CJOS Bounce 92.3 FM in Owen Sound playing adult hits. (The sale is subject to Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission approval and other closing conditions.)

Print properties include: Zoomer Magazine, the company's flagship magazine and Canada's largest paid circulation magazine for the 45-plus market; On The Bay Magazine, a dominant regional lifestyle magazine published quarterly for the 20 towns and villages of Ontario's Southern Georgian Bay; and Tonic Magazine, a regional health and wellness magazine published bimonthly and distributed across the city of Toronto.

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