AdUX - Hi-media

In 1996, a 24-year-old Cyril Zimmermann founded Hi-media in Paris, starting as a multi-support advertising agency for press, radio, and the nascent internet. A year later, the company sharpened its focus exclusively to online advertising, setting the stage for its future in the digital landscape. The company went public on the Paris stock exchange in June 2000, right at the peak of the dot-com bubble. Surviving the subsequent crash required a strategic repositioning, leading Hi-media to diversify. The company expanded into micropayments with the launch of HiPay in 2009 and acquired several websites, including the popular social network Fotolog in 2007 and Jeuxvideo.com in 2006. By 2014, the company decided to formally separate its core activities, splitting the advertising and payment businesses. This led to the spin-off and independent IPO of HiPay Group in 2015. Recognizing a shift in the market where intrusive ads were increasingly rejected by users, the original company underwent a significant transformation. In November 2016, Hi-media rebranded as AdUX, a name reflecting a new mission to reconcile Advertising (Ad) with User Experience (UX). This pivot focused the company on developing non-intrusive, native advertising and geo-targeted mobile ads, adapting to a world with ad-blockers and changing consumer behavior.