Date
Author
Ольга ФЕДИНА; РИА Новости; -- Для «Времени Новостей
Source
Preserved copy
Translated material
Strategic interest
The sale of an agency specializing in online advertising became part of a multimillion-dollar deal
The sale of the Video International group of companies, which includes the advertising agency IMHO VI, indicates the willingness of big business to invest in the development of the Russian online advertising market, experts are sure.On Monday, the sale of the Video International group of companies, one of the largest Russian advertising holdings, was completed. The new owners were the structures of Rossiya Bank, Surgutneftegaz and Severstal General Director Alexander Mordashov. The transaction amount is estimated at 300-500 million dollars.
Experts are confident: IMHO VI did not become a “free application” to other assets of Video International. On the contrary, Russian big business has become interested in the online advertising market. According to the owner of LiveInternet.ru German Klimenko, the deal to purchase Video International was structured, and IMHO VI was acquired as part of the holding. The new owners are interested in covering all segments of the Russian advertising market, including the Internet.
Expert consultant of Finam Investment Company Leonid Delitsyn is confident that television advertising is of greatest interest to the new owners of the holding: “Now Internet advertising has a small share in the Russian advertising market. The main income still comes from advertising on television. And in 2012 ( elections of the President of the Russian Federation) its role will increase."
Representatives of the banking sector believe that investing in online advertising is profitable, but it is worth investing in certain companies that are leaders in this market. “Advertising volumes on the Runet are growing annually by 50-100%. Therefore, online advertising is a profitable sector for investment. But not advertising in the abstract, but certain platforms and promotion methods. IMHO VI agency, as one of the leaders, has sufficient experience in the market and partnerships with attractive platforms in order to be an interesting object for investment,” says Natalia Masarskaya, editor-in-chief of the Internet representative office of Alfa Bank.
The company itself shares this opinion. “Online advertising is the fastest growing segment, but on the other hand, in absolute numbers it is still far from TV, so it is most likely of strategic interest as the most promising direction,” Arsen Revazov, chairman of the board of IMHO VI, told RIA Novosti.
The company does not expect global changes due to a change of owners. At the moment, IMHO VI, according to its own estimates, has 40% of the Russian online advertising market. According to Mr. Revazov, the agency’s plans are to achieve noticeable success in the contextual advertising market with the help of Blondinka.Ru (an ad placement service in the largest contextual advertising systems on the Runet - Google Adwords, Begun, Yandex.Direct ).
According to Leonid Delitsyn, the deal to purchase Video International can be considered unique: “Advertising agencies are not an object of investment. An advertising agency can only make a profit if it is a monopolist in the market. And Video International has long become a large holding with a multimillion-dollar turnover, which is why the new owners were interested in acquiring it."
In 2009, the turnover of the advertising holding Video International, according to the company’s own estimates, amounted to $3 billion.
According to the forecasts of the media company GroupM, the volume of the Russian advertising market in 2010 will amount to 226 billion rubles. (about 7.3 billion dollars). Television advertising will account for 130.7 billion rubles. (about 4.2 billion dollars). According to Arsen Revazov's estimates, the volume of the Internet advertising market will amount to 2.5 billion rubles in 2010. ($800 million).
Prepared jointly with RIA Novosti