Ringier Sports takes over Sportal
In order to strengthen its own Digital Unit, Ringier Sports has acquired Sportal Media as of October 1, 2020. The Sport.ch and Sportalhd.com platforms will remain as independent brands and continue to operate under the umbrella of Ringier Sports.
Sportal Media was founded in 2003 and focuses on the production of sports content and the marketing of digital media offerings. Under the Sportal brand, sports content is aggregated and curated for fans and brands on various social, digital and TV platforms. With Sportal HD, the company has programming expertise. The production unit creates and distributes sports and lifestyle original programming as well as branded content. Sportal designs engagement strategies for sports communities on digital platforms and social networks.
Sportal operates the aggregation platform Sport.ch and supplies young, digital-savvy fans with their daily dose of sports in the form of live tickers, highlights, videos, news and streams. Sportal also includes Sportalhd.com, the only German-language sports streaming service that combines live sports highlights with exclusive talk and original programming. The streaming program includes, for example, the soccer talk show "The Soccer Lounge," which has been highlighting events around the Raiffeisen Super League with players and experts on a weekly basis for six seasons. The portals record over 1.8 million visits per month.
Synergies through integration
As part of the acquisition of Sportal Media, the 13 employees of Sportal were taken over by Ringier Sports as of October 1, 2020 and integrated into the Digital Unit. Alexander Grimm, former founder and CEO of Sportal, now holds the position of Chief Digital Officer and joins the Executive Board.
