SuperAwesome Continues Kids Marketing Land-Grab With Acquisition Of Spain’s Ad4Kids

SuperAwesome, the ad network and marketing platform for kids and teens, continues to be on a mini-shopping spree. The London-headquartered company is acquiring Spanish startup Ad4Kids, a platform for mobile app developers to cross-promote their ‘kids-safe’ apps, in an all-cash, otherwise undisclosed, deal.

It adds to a spew of recent acquisitions and acqui-hires by SuperAwesome that includes the purchase of U.S.-based MobiGirl Media, a mobile ad network for girls, and, more recently, the sales and ad teams of kids virtual world Bin Weevils.

And let’s not mention a failed attempt to take MyFamilyClub, the parenting finance community and Mumsnet competitor, off of the hands of media giant DC Thomson. A deal I understand went right to the wire before ultimately being aborted.

The acquisition of Ad4Kids also comes at a time when the kids online space appears to be hotting up, signalled by the launch of a child-friendly version of YouTube. A move, says SuperAwesome co-founder (and VC partner) Dylan Collins, that shows Google is finally taking the kids market seriously enough to treat it as a separate audience.

“It’s a massive validation for the entire kids market and sends a huge message to brands that they should follow suit,” he says. “There’s $11 billion-plus spent on TV advertising but just $700 million in digital advertising across the kids market. Clearly that’s completely out of step with the reality of where kids are.”

And while Collins is clearly biased — SuperAwesome is starting to resemble a kids marketing land grab while no one is looking — it’s hard to argue with his assertion that Google has realised that there’s a “wall of money waiting in the sector so they’re going after it.”

“The market is going to 3x or 4x in the next couple of years,” he adds, confidently.

Meanwhile, it’s my understanding that Seville-based Ad4kids had been looking for investors or an exit, and so SuperAwesome saw an opportunity by means of acquisition to expand its reach further across Europe.

“We’ve been focusing heavily on the U.S. market (which is growing quickly) but the opportunity to strengthen our reach in the EU made a lot of sense,” says Collins.

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