MoodMedia Bulks Up In-Store Media Footprint In Acquiring Competitor PlayNetwork

September 22, 2021 by Dave Haynes

Mood Media has acquired longtime competitor PlayNetwork from its owner Octave Group, bulking up Mood’s overall footprint for in-store media solutions like digital signage and streaming ambient music.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed in the announcement.

Mood says it reaches more than 150 million consumers each day via some 500,000 subscriber locations in 100+ countries – mainly retail of varying sizes, but also hotels, QSRs and banks. Buying Play adds on, at least in theory, some 400 customer brands at more than 100,000 locations in 115 countries.

“PlayNetwork’s customer-focused approach and global, blue-chip clientele is a terrific fit with Mood Media’s existing business, and further enhances our efforts to expand our product offerings and technology solutions,” says Malcolm McRoberts, the CEO of Mood Media. “We look forward to integrating the PlayNetwork team into the Mood family – continuing to deliver top-tier consumer connection solutions for our customers.”

“This is an exciting outcome for PlayNetwork, and we thank the entire team for their tremendous contributions and partnership,” says Ross Honey, President and CEO of Octave Group. “Mood Media shares PlayNetwork’s commitment to innovation and ensuring the long-term success of our customers and valued employees. The full resources of Mood Media will best position the company to take the next steps in its evolution and deliver the unparalleled execution and collaboration PlayNetwork customers rely on.”

It must be endlessly interesting around the Austin, TX HQ of Mood. The company was acquired by a private equity company late last year, months after it went into Chapter 11 this summer and then bounced right out of it in which I gather was more of a paperwork exercise than turning the lights off and back on again.

The blended company finds itself in a tough business, with competition from companies like Montreal’s Stingray, but also from music streaming services adopted for business, like Spotify, Sirius XM and Apple Music. I’ve also been in stores – like where I brew Belgian white ale on premise! – that just use YouTube for streaming in-house music.

It’s a little hard to keep track of all the goings-on between these companies, but it appears that Octave Group grew out of Montreal/New York-based TouchTunes and it was TouchTunes that merged with Play about four years ago. This would allow Octave, again theoretically, to focus on TouchTunes, which is digital jukeboxes in thousands of bars. The interactive screens are also sold as DOOH avails.

Both Mood and Octave have venture capital firms behind them.