On March 18, Gazprom-Media Holding announced its IFRS consolidated financial results for the full year of 2021 as compared to 2020.
Key Financial Highlights for January–December 2021:
Gazprom-Media Holding’s consolidated revenue increased by 22%, to RUB 121 billion, thanks to higher advertising revenue and proceeds from the sale of audio and video broadcasting rights. Net profit exceeded RUB 3 billion against a net loss of RUB 5.5 billion in 2020. The holding’s operating profit rose to RUB 3.1 billion. This strong operating and financial performance is due to the company’s efficient management of consolidated expenses, which increased less than income growth.
•    Advertising revenue amounted to RUB 90.7 billion, which is 25% higher than the previous year. The growth outpaced the Russian advertising market as a whole, which increased by 22% in 2021, according to the Association of Communication Agencies of Russia (ACAR). Advertising revenue was strongly driven by Gazprom-Media’s terrestrial TV channels, Red Media’s themed TV channels, and GPM Match’s sports channels. A particular contributing factor was the successful launch of premieres and projects on the holding’s TV channels late in Q3. A doubling of digital advertising revenue also influenced this trend.
Overall, advertising revenue grew as the advertising market recovered.
•    Proceeds from the sale of audio and video broadcasting rights increased by 25% to RUB 16.8 billion. This growth was led by income from the distribution of themed channels and digital content. The partial revival of film distribution operations, which the pandemic curtailed in 2020, also played a part.
Business Consolidation
In May 2021, the company closed a deal to acquire a 49% stake in MT-Technologies LLC (Kvant), increasing its ownership to 100%. The deal will enable Gazprom-Media Holding JSC to build up its technological competencies and expertise in new advertising and marketing technology and in digital advertising sales.