LIN Acquires Majority Ownership In HYFN

LIN TV Corp. on Thursday acquired a majority ownership position in HYFN, a full-service digital agency that develops and implements mobile, social and Web.

“Our acquisition of this growing and successful company is part of our continued investment to build our digital media ecosystem in a strategic way that drives synergies and positions us as the leading one-stop-shop for all marketing needs,” said Vincent L. Sadusky, president-CEO of LIN Media.

Founded in 2000 with offices in Los Angeles and New York, HYFN offers a proprietary social media management system, HYFN8, that allows brands to manage their entire social presence in a consolidated dashboard. Its social platform provides custom listening and profile management streams, post scheduling tools, a Web-based social media and application builder, and deep analytics for engagement and monetization.

HYFN is a member of the Facebook Preferred Marketing Developer program that recognizes developers who have built value-added products in one or more of four qualification areas — pages, ads, apps and insights.

“The demand for robust social and mobile marketing solutions that break through the clutter continues to grow at a rapid pace,” said Robb Richter, Senior Vice President Digital. “We’ve been extremely impressed with HYFN’s digital capabilities, business model and the strength of their management team. There are important competitive advantages that result from having the agency’s creative talent in the same room as their engineers.”

HYFN will join LIN Media’s Digital Media portfolio. The company said it will “fully leverage HYFN’s services, solutions and technology, including its social media management platform, as well as its creative and technology capabilities, to expand its offerings and synergies.”

Morgan Harris, HYFN founder who will continue in his role as CEO, said: “We are excited about this incredible opportunity to be part of LIN Media’s impressive digital media portfolio. It represents a very important piece of our strategy to significantly grow our business and enhance our already powerful reach in the digital marketplace.”