MUMBAI: Vice and WPP's media investment unit GroupM have signed a multimillion-dollar advertising deal that will take advantage of the millennial-focused media company's international expansion.

Vice co-founder and CEO Shane Smith and WPP CEO Martin Sorrell said that they agreed that millennials were the future. They were under-serviced, and the companies had to create more content.

The particulars of the deal involve Vice working with GroupM to use Vice's insights, content and data to build an advertising platform across all of Vice's global multi-screen and over-the-top properties. The deal was announced at the Dmexco conference in Cologne, Germany.

The deal is worth hundreds of millions of dollars in ad spending, according to Smith. A Vice spokesperson later added it is a multi-year, multi territory deal.

GroupM handles over USD 102 billion in advertising billings, according to research company Recma. GroupM said it handles one out of three ads globally.

Sorrell said that there were some difficulties working with Google and Facebook, and that there' was a need to find another force.

In June, Vice announced plans to expand its presence to 51 territories, including having a TV, mobile and digital presence in India and the Middle East and TV content throughout Africa.

It also will add a 24-hour TV channel in Australia and New Zealand, where it already has a robust digital and mobile presence. Vice's U.S. cable channel Viceland launched in February 2016, and it's nightly HBO news show is slated to begin on 10 October.

WPP at present has an 8.5 per cent stake in Vice. At one point, it owned up to one-tenth of the company but has since sold some shares. Source: cnbc.com