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How Joey Chung of TNL Mediagene acquires media companies… as a media company
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TNL MediaGene, formerly the News Lens, is a case study in strategic media company acquisitions. Over the past four and a half years, they executed nine acquisitions — averaging one every six months. Originally focused on independent digital news in Taiwan, they expanded across Asia and recognised the need to pivot as growth plateaued.
This led to a transformation into a media group, acquiring smaller verticals and diversifying into MarTech, AdTech, and data analytics. The company now boasts 29 media brands, six offices, and approximately 560 employees, 80% of whom came through acquisitions.
With a strategy yielding 50 to 60 million monthly unique readers, monetisation sources include media advertising, data analytics, AI, SaaS, tech services, e-commerce, agency communications, paid events, and memberships.
As Joey Chung, the CEO and co-founder explained at Splice Beta 2023, the recent merger with MediaGene, a Japanese digital media player, demonstrates the company's evolution and strategic expansion beyond its Taiwanese roots.
1. Strategic Growth Challenges: Joey highlights the challenge of sustaining growth in a small market like Taiwan, especially when catering to a niche audience like news readers. The need to meet investor expectations while preserving the independent media ethos adds complexity to this growth strategy.
2. Venture Capital Influence: Early reliance on institutional VC funding forces the media brand to continuously meet growth milestones. Joey emphasises the pressure to demonstrate return on investment, which leads to exploring options like mergers and acquisitions as a strategic move to overcome the limitations of the small local market.
3. Pivoting for Sustainability: The realisation that horizontal growth into different content categories might not be financially viable prompts a pivotal shift in strategy. Instead of diversifying content offerings, the focus shifts to regional expansion and internationalisation, acknowledging the limitations of the small market dynamics in the digital media industry.
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