iMedia, one of Malaysia’s leading integrated digital media groups, today announced it has acquired a 90% controlling stake in BeautifulNara (www.beautifulnara.com), one of the leading Malay Language portals in Malaysia. The acquisition goes in line with the company’s mission of becoming Malaysia’s number 1 integrated digital media group.
iMedia, recently announced its own plans to join Bursa Malaysia via its own 100% acquisition by Rev Asia Berhad, currently listed on Bursa Malaysia for approximately RM40m. Upon approval by regulators and shareholders, the BeautifulNara acquisition will be part of iMedia’s move to Bursa Malaysia.
iMedia has been moving at lightning speed in the last 90 days, by confirming 4 acquisitions. Over the last 3 months, iMedia announced the acquisition of OhMedia, Ittify, Goody25 and BeautifulNara. The combined network owned by iMedia now reaches over 13m Malaysians.
As part of the acquisition, the company also announced it has signed an Exclusive Advertising Representation Agreement with Nara Media Sdn Bhd. It will be responsible for the acceleration of all revenue across the websites and focus on building its content marketing business, as well as introducing social selling as a new revenue platform.
BeautifulNara is a leading Malay language Entertainment and Social news media and content website that primarily focuses on the latest news on the local entertainment and lifestyle scene, as well as the trendiest stories on celebrities, fashion and travel. Launched in 2013, it has grown into a prominent brand and source for many visitors from Malaysia and across the region. According to Similar Web Traffic and Engagement statistics, BeautifulNara’s users are highly engaged and spends an average of 4 minutes per session each time they visit the website. Compared to similar content websites they also have a low bounce rate of below 55% each month. BeautifulNara have a strong social following with over 1.2m followers on Facebook and Instagram combined. According to Google Analytics, Beautiful Nara recorded an average of 9.6 million-page views and 1 million users per month in year 2020 (based on GA’s January to September data).
Shahzeeq, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of BeautifulNara, said: “Definitely exciting times ahead. Over the years, the social and digital landscape is constantly evolving, the way we consume content is significantly changing too. They are now becoming a huge part of the business’s strategies. Tze Khay and his team are a bunch of brilliant people, and definitely a lot of synergy moving forward.” Nazuwan, Director and Founder of BeautifulNara, said: “After 12 years, it's time for me to leave BeautifulNara in the good hands of iMedia. Who knew, a blog I started for fun became this big and read by millions of Malaysians. There's still so much room for growth and I thank you for all the support, love and help.”
Voon Tze Khay, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of iMedia, said: “We are excited to welcome BeautifulNara to our fast-growing content and social influencer network. This acquisition will further strengthen the company’s dominant position in the Malay language content network in Malaysia and our reach to the overall Malay urban youth speaking online community. We will continue to build upon the revenue potential in sponsored content and video advertising that is in line with the rapid growth in the region’s overall digital advertising spend. We see this as an opportunity for a sustainable solution to generate greater revenue.”
“The team led by Shahzeeq will continue to work closely with iMedia and focus on the overall expansion of BeautifulNara and its other related websites, Amazing Nara ( www.amazingnara.com) that covers trending daily news as well as Kimchi Daily (www.kimchidaily.my) which features all things KPOP, to provide scale that the group wants to achieve in building a larger community of Malay speaking audience and social media influencers”.
iMedia — Malaysia’s fast-growing integrated digital media group with a combined following of over 13 million visitors across its websites, social platforms and influencer network — has an extensive portfolio of popular online brands and influencer network which include OhMedia, Ittify, Goody25, GoodyMy, BeautifulNara, Amazing Nara, Kimchi Daily, Newswav, Malaysia Gazette and Oriental Daily Online.
