Gazprom-Media Holding, a leading diversified media holding in Russia and Eastern Europe, has announced its investment into Happy Monday Family (HMF), a group of companies that provides services in influencer marketing and online advertising. HMF’s head managers are Nikolay Bunkin and Evgeny Safonov, who previously created a number of successful IT projects in online advertising.
The unique feature of HMF is the versatility of its services. HMF encompasses Happy Monday - one of the market leaders in working with bloggers, HPMD Network - a premium network of mobile advertising, Booster - a platform for video distribution, Influencer - a platform for working with micro bloggers, as well as a production center of branded content.
“We stuck to market logic, which says that it is much more effective for corporations to invest in an existing team than to create new ones. Thus, one of the main factors in making the investment decision was the experience of the HMF founders and their motivation to develop a joint business with Gazprom-Media. The structure of the transaction will allow us to achieve synergy without the HMF management losing its autonomy. Our common task now is to offer products that have no analogues on the market in terms of coverage and effectiveness,” said Boris Maleev, Gazprom-Media Holding’s investment manager.
HMF's entry onto the market of influencer advertising in 2014 gave a boost to the business’s efficiency indicators. According to analysts, influencer advertising will be the main driver of the digital advertising market over the next three years. The segment’s indicators increased by 53% on a global scale last year. Additional growth of 41% is expected this year.