Aller acquires SDU startup
The analytics company MediaCatch, founded by three researchers from the University of Southern Denmark, has been acquired by the Aller Media group. The startup continues, but now with more clout.
The marketing of an American energy drink, the coverage of a Danish general election, and a translation tool from Greenlandic to Danish.
These are some of the projects the company MediaCatch has analysed or created with the help of artificial intelligence (AI).
The entrepreneurs behind the startup have been frontrunners in terms of using AI to analyse and monitor content in a wide range of media. This is why part of the Aller Media Group – the Ahead Group – is now acquiring MediaCatch.
- MediaCatch’s innovative AI solutions enable us to deliver precise, data-driven insights that can transform our clients’ marketing strategies,’ says Christopher Aller, CEO of Aller A/S, in the Group’s press release.
The company is set to grow
The acquisition means that MediaCatch can tap into Aller Media’s extensive network and major clients, explains CEO Lars Damgaard Nielsen.
‘Now MediaCatch is set to grow bigger. We intend to bring in even more major international clients and continue to tailor our services to them. And now we have more financial clout to do so,’ he says.
From initially focusing on media monitoring, the company has developed into an AI agency specialising in advanced media analysis and tailored solutions for leading brands.
Using AI, MediaCatch can, among other things, spot faces, understand speech, logos and mentions on TV channels, radio stations, YouTube and TikTok, in podcasts, etc.
An analysis of the data shows the effect a company’s marketing has on potential customers.
”We have retained our academic approach from the university. We use data and ensure that we perform at a high level. We stick to the values of being decent and fair. This seems to work, because we have worked for many brands that have become returning clients.
Research is part of the company’s DNA
Lars Damgaard Nielsen says that transitioning from the world of research to business is quite an experience.
There’s only a short step from thinking to doing. On the other hand, he believes that the company’s roots in research have given the products substance and created value.
- We have retained our academic approach from the university. We use data and ensure that we perform at a high level. We stick to the values of being decent and fair. This seems to work, because we have worked for many brands that have become returning clients, he says.
When MediaCatch was founded in 2019, SDU’s Rector Jens Ringsmose said that it is always a pleasure when research creates innovation, growth and jobs for the benefit of society.
With the acquisition, the company gets the chance to contribute to exactly that on a major scale.
Facts about MediaCatch
- MediaCatch is based on research from the Centre of Journalism and the Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute at the University of Southern Denmark.
- The company was founded in 2019 with help from SDU’s subsidiary Science Ventures Denmark, among others.
- One of its first projects was together with TV2 Fyn, which wanted a more evenly distributed and diverse election coverage during the municipal elections.
- Researchers Lars Damgaard Nielsen, Filip Wallberg and Anders Glent Buch helped found MediaCatch together with Cæcilie Bach Kjærulf. Filip Wallberg left the company in the spring of 2023.
- The controlling interest of MediaCatch was acquired by the Aller Media Group’s Ahead Group in November 2024.
- Read more about MediaCatch.