DGAP-News: Bastei Lübbe, VEMAG and VideoDays establish joint publishing house for social media influencers


DGAP-News: Bastei Lübbe AG / Key word(s): Miscellaneous
Bastei Lübbe, VEMAG and VideoDays establish joint publishing house for
social media influencers

28.06.2016 / 14:00
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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Bastei Lübbe, VEMAG and VideoDays establish
joint publishing house for social media influencers

Cologne, June 28, 2016. The two media companies VEMAG and Bastei Lübbe as
well as Christoph Krachten and VideoDays, one of the world's largest
YouTube fan events, will be working closely together. Going by the name of
Community Editions, they have founded a joint publishing house for
individuals known as social media influencers. The new label will publish
and market the works, including books, by renowned YouTube artists. "First
of all, the start-up's goal is to reintroduce books as a medium of
information to a young audience. Secondly, we want to help trendsetters,
most of whom only have a digital presence, discover books as an additional
distribution channel. That way, digital influencers can expand their range
and target groups", explains Thomas Schierack, CEO of Bastei Lübbe AG. "If
you like, you can say we are creating a new interface between the old and
the new media universe", Schierack adds.

There are already plans for specific projects. ""In terms of selection of
topics we will use Community Editions to cover a broad range of subjects
which addresses the topics available for the social media influencer",
explains Holger Schneider, CEO of VEMAG Verlags- und Medien AG. In
particular, the agenda includes content in the areas of lifestyle, beauty
and do-it-yourself in addition to gaming and sports. "The books are meant
to satisfy the expectations of fans as well as those kinds of readers not
previously reached by the author", Schneider continues. The first books by
artists and influencers are in the works and expected to be released in the
spring of 2017. "With this label, we are hitting on the nerve of a huge fan
base who want something lasting from their idols to hold in their hands.
Influencers represent content that an audience not necessarily made up of
digital natives finds appealing," says VideoDays general manager Christoph
Krachten, summarising the publisher's goals.

"With Community Editions, we want to leverage the synergies of three of the
German media industry's strongest companies," says Bastei Lübbe CEO, Thomas
Schierack. Bastei Lübbe AG is the leading publisher of novels, youth
literature and non-fiction, marketing works that include best-sellers by
star authors like Ken Follett, Dan Brown and Jeff Kinney. VEMAG Verlags-
und Medien AG specialises in every market outside of the book trade but
sells books internationally in particular in high-traffic areas in food
retailing. With the combined marketing strength of the two publishing
groups, the books released by the newly founded company will have a chance
at the best possible placement in every channel. VideoDays, in turn, will
ensure that the books published by Community Editions will receive maximum
visibility and attention of its YouTube target group.

With Daniel Prelinger as general manager, together with Lucas Lüdemann and
Yasmin Reddig, Community Editions combines the long-term market experience
with the online expertise necessary to blend the needs of influencers in
the digital world with those of the publishing world. As a rule, Community
Editions places importance on close collaboration with its authors and on a
creative production process for its books that includes social media
activities. Klaus Kluge, member of the Bastei Lübbe Management Board in
charge of programme and marketing, emphasises, however, that the books are
not intended to be mere personality publications. "As in our publishing
houses' traditional programmes, we will stay true to our motto even with
Community Editions: First and foremost, our focus is always on providing
high-quality content."

About Bastei Lübbe AG:
Bastei Lübbe AG is an international media group based in Cologne. The
business operations focus on the development and licensing of content
distributed worldwide physically and digitally. The company's core business
includes the traditional publishing business and the periodical puzzle
magazines and novel booklets in the "Book" segment. With its twelve
publishers and imprints, the group of companies currently offers
approximately 3,600 titles in fiction, non-fiction and books for children
and young adults. In the growing segment of hardcover fiction, the company
has been the market leader in Germany for many years. At the same time,
Bastei Lübbe is driving innovation in the field of digital media. As well
as the production of thousands of audio and e-books, the "Digital" segment
also includes holdings in the self-publishing platform "BookRix" and the
renowned games publisher "Daedalic Entertainment". Bastei Lübbe AG's value
chain is completed by the investment in the online shop "beam-ebooks.de"
and the new and internationally unique streaming platform "oolipo". The
investments Daedalic, BookRix, oolipo, Beam Store, JV US and Bastei Media
are bundled in the Holding company "Bastei Ventures GmbH", since January
2016.
With currently 334 employees and an annual turnover of roughly EUR 110.2
million (financial year 2014/2015), Bastei Lübbe AG is the largest medium-
sized family company in the German publishing industry. Since 2013, the
company's shares have been listed in the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt
Stock Exchange (WKN A1X3YY, ISIN DE000A1X3YY0). Further information is
available at www.luebbe.de.

About VEMAG Verlags- und Medien AG
VEMAG is a medium-sized, international publishing group. For over 30 years,
it has stood for innovative and high-quality printed and digital media that
are successfully published in Germany and abroad in as many as 30
languages. As part of its business activities, VEMAG publishes cook books,
children's books, crafts, non-fiction, and illustrated books as well as
digital media, audio books, hobby and crafting articles devoted to an
enormous range of topics and for every age group. For several decades, the
publisher's products have been leading in the promotions business of food
retailers in Germany and abroad. Many titles also appear as e-books or apps
or are supplemented with digital content.

About Christoph Krachten and VideoDays
By coming up with the idea for VideoDays, Christoph Krachten has created
one of the most successful youth culture events of our time. He has been
organising one of the world's largest gathering of YouTube fans in Cologne,
which began as part of the Gamescom convention, since 2011. Since 2013,
roughly ten thousand devotees have been meeting and celebrating their stars
at the LANXESS Arena in Cologne. Having spent a number of years working as
a TV
journalist and producer for German channels like WDR and RTL, Christoph
Krachten was one of the first professional creators of media in Germany to
realise the potential of online video. He has been hosting an online show
called Clixoom since 2009. Christoph Krachten is also a founder of
Mediakraft Networks, one of the first online video networks in Europe,
advising and producing numerous successful YouTube channels.

Contact: Bastei Lübbe AG:
Barbara Fischer
Head of Public Relations
Tel.: 0221 / 82 00 28 50
E-mail: barbara.fischer@luebbe.de


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28.06.2016 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a
service of EQS Group AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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   Language:    English                                                     
   Company:     Bastei Lübbe AG                                             
                Schanzenstraße 6 - 20                                       
                51063 Köln                                                  
                Germany                                                     
   Phone:       02 21 / 82 00 - 0                                           
   Fax:         02 21 / 82 00 - 1900                                        
   E-mail:      investorrelations@luebbe.de                                 
   Internet:    www.luebbe.de                                               
   ISIN:        DE000A1X3YY0, DE000A1K0169                                  
   WKN:         A1X3YY, A1K016                                              
   Listed:      Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Regulated   
                Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Hanover,  
                Stuttgart                                                   
 
 
   End of News    DGAP News Service  
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475117 28.06.2016