Russian Media Industry News

Independent Media acquired a 55% stake in Lux Media

Holger Zscheyge — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 03:53:33 +0000

Independent Media Sanoma Magazines acquired a 55% stake in Russian magazine publisher Lux Media (aka Global Media Group). The deal will be closed in the second quarter of 2008. IM has an option to acquire the remaining 45% until 2012.

Lux Media publishes Collezioni (fashion), Homes Overseas (real estate) and Wedding (weddings). The founder of Lux Media, Artyom Kind, will remain General Director of the publisher.

The acquisition will strengthen IM’s position in the luxury segment of the magazines market.

Source: Independent Media Sanoma Magazines

Top Management of «Obyedinyonnye Media» received 15% of company

Holger Zscheyge — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:42:10 +0000

Arkadij Gajdamak, owner of «Obyedinyonnye Media» (United Media) media group, transferred a share of 15% of the company to several top managers. OM owns «Business FM» and «Kino FM» radio stations, the «Business & Financial Markets» daily business newspaper and «Populyarnye Finansy» (Popular Finances) journal. Revenues of USD 5 million have been disclosed for 2007.

Source: Kommersant

Rodionov to close down BusinessWeek Russia

Holger Zscheyge — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:17:10 +0000

Izdatelskij Dom Rodionova announced that effective end of May the Russian edition of «BusinessWeek» will be closed down. Sources at the publisher cited «weak financial results» as the main reason for discontinuing the journal.

IDR started the project in September 2005. According to TNS Russia, the weekly readership of «BusinessWeek Russia» was 44,2 thousand as of October 2007.

Source: RBC Daily

Interfax and LexisNexis to co-operate on Russian market

Holger Zscheyge — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 04:09:41 +0000

Russian news agency «Interfax» and LexisNexis announced about their agreement to co-operate on the Russian market. Users of Interfax’s «System of Complex Analysis of News» (SCAN) will be able to access the full LexisNexis database. SCAN was introduced at the end of 2007 for a monthly fee of RUR 10.000 (about EUR 295).

New GD for MTV Russia

Holger Zscheyge — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 08:17:56 +0000

Media holding «Prof-Media» announced that it appointed Alexej Efimov as the General Director of «MTV Russia». The music TV channel has been acquired by «Prof-Media» last year for USD 360 million.

Source: Kommersant

Delovoj Mir acquired trade magazine

Holger Zscheyge — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 11:34:19 +0000

Russia’s biggest publisher of advertisement-financed trade magazines «Delovoj Mir» acquired «Torgovoye Oborudovaniye v Rossii», a trade magazine on retail trade equipment. The deal is said to be in the range of RUR 20 million, with estimated annual revenues of the journal of RUR 10 million.

Source: Kommersant

Russian edition of Sportweek to be launched

Holger Zscheyge — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:44:50 +0000

Italian RCS MediaGroup and Russian publisher Global Media Group (Collezioni, Homes Overseas, Wedding) have signed a licensing agreement in relation to SPORTWEEK, the weekly magazine of La Gazetta dello Sport, for the creation of a multimedia sports platform in Russia. The agreement concerns the launch of the Russian edition of SPORTWEEK in the first half of 2008 and the development of sports website sportweek.ru.

Source: Kommersant

Revenues from internet advertising at USD 400 million

Holger Zscheyge — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 17:54:47 +0000

According to an expert panel of CNews, advertising revenues of Russian internet companies reached a new high of USD 399.8 million in 2007. The bulk of the revenues comes from banner advertising (USD 206.9 million). The top 3 companies in terms of advertising revenue are Yandex (USD 167 million), RBK (USD 88 million) and Rambler (USD 65 million), all pure Russian players. Google comes in at #6 with USD 10 million.

Source: Kommersant

Radio advertising grew 35% in 2007

Holger Zscheyge — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 17:58:22 +0000

According to the Expert Council of the National Association of TV and Radio Broadcasters the Russian market for radio advertising grew 35% to USD 620 million in 2007. USD 300 million of it were spend on the Moscow market. Although Moscow is still the biggest market, regional markets grew faster (40%) than the the capital’s market (30%).

Source: RBC-Daily

New entertainment portal for IM

Holger Zscheyge — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 18:09:50 +0000

Independent Media Sanoma Magazines acquired entertainment portal «Webpark» for an undisclosed amount. Market experts put a valuation cap at USD 400 million for the portal.

Source: Kommersant