Accent Health acquired by VCs

September 8, 2008 by Dave Haynes

Note – The company in question is a client of my masters.

Accent Health, one of the largest digital screen network operators around, and certainly one of the most successful, has been acquired by a pair of US private equity groups, according to a press release.

Private equity firms M/C Venture Partners (M/C) and Banc of America Capital Investors (BACI) today announced that they have partnered to jointly acquire AccentHealth, the leading digital out-of-home media company providing patient health education in physician offices nationwide, from Ascent Media Corp., a subsidiary of Discovery Holding Company.

Since 1995, AccentHealth has been educating patients with award-winning health-related television programming at the point-of-care. According to Nielsen Media Research, almost 150 million patients watch the programming each year in waiting rooms of more than 35,000 physicians. AccentHealth’s award-winning content is produced by CNN and co-hosted by CNN’s chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and Morning Express anchor Robin Meade. AccentHealth also offers its clients, primarily pharmaceutical and consumer packaged goods companies, integrated marketing opportunities such as wall-mounted health education displays to reach targeted consumers with multiple touch points at the point of care.

“This transaction will allow us to quickly complete our upgrade to digital delivery and expand our leadership presence at the point-of-care,” said Richard Ruth, CEO of AccentHealth. “We are especially pleased to have attracted the interest of M/C Venture Partners and Banc of America Capital Investors as they provide access to expertise and resources, which will help us enhance our leadership position in the health-focused out-of-home media segment.”  

Accent Health has about 11,500 medical clinics with screens, about half of them digital and the rest being transitioned as we speak from DVD-driven to digital. The network was being shopped around for the last few months, and one of the compelling selling points was AH’s success in generating targeted ad sales. Not my client, but as I understand it, the ad inventory is sold out for the next long bit.

Not a lot of DOOH networks can boast that.