Josh Simons. Credit: Vinyl Group
Vinyl Group has acquired Pedestrian Group from Nine Entertainment for nominal consideration, AdNews can reveal.
AdNews understands the music and media company entered the race after reports Nine Entertainment had fielded unsolicited interest in the asset, subsequently approaching Nine directly with an offer.
The transaction does not involve any material cash, debt, scrip or ongoing royalties, with completion scheduled for June 15.
AdNews also understands the sale forms part of a broader realignment at Nine, which has also been integrating QMS into the business following its $850 million acquisition, expected to contribute $92 million in EBITDA and deliver about $20 million in cost synergies, while Radio and NBN have moved to new owners.
Nine conducted a strategic review of Pedestrian before deciding to exit, with the company determining the group would be best placed for growth under Vinyl.
The acquisition adds one of Australia's most prominent youth digital publishers to a Vinyl Media stable that already includes Concrete Playground, Mediaweek, Tone Deaf and ANZ licences for Rolling Stone, Variety, BuzzFeed and LADbible.
Pedestrian Group's portfolio spans PEDESTRIAN.TV, Pedestrian Jobs, Openair Cinemas and Pedestrian Studio.
The group reaches more than 9.4 million people monthly across its owned, social and distributed platforms, including about 1.0 million monthly readers and 75 million minutes of video content watched.
Following implementation of a restructure plan, Pedestrian Group is expected to contribute $0.6m-$0.8m of pro forma EBITDA to Vinyl in FY27. The acquisition increases Vinyl's Ipsos iris de-duplicated online audience reach to 53% of Australians online, up from 51%.
Vinyl Group has grown rapidly through acquisition since rebranding from Jaxsta in 2023. It picked up The Brag Media, Concrete Playground and Val Morgan Digital before turning its attention to Pedestrian.
Vinyl Group CEO Josh Simons said Pedestrian Group is one of Australia's most recognisable youth media brands, with a distinctive voice, loyal audience and strong reputation in culture and entertainment.
"The addition of Pedestrian's brand further rebalances Vinyl's portfolio of cultural assets through a mix of licensed and wholly owned, original IP," he said.
"The transaction also reflects the strength of Vinyl Group's acquisition strategy. We are continuing to secure high-quality cultural assets through capital-efficient structures, validate our adaptive media flywheel, and build Vinyl into the acquirer of choice for subscale youth, culture and entertainment brands in Australia."
Nine acquired a majority stake in Pedestrian.tv in 2015 for about $10 million, taking full ownership in 2018 with a $39 million purchase of the remaining 40%.
AdNews understands Mason Rook has been leading Pedestrian Group through the sale process.
Nine has said its digital growth assets, including Stan, 9Now, digital mastheads and out-of-home, account for more than 60% of group revenue.
Nine has been contacted for comment.
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