LIN Media to Acquire Federated Media

LIN Media today announced that its subsidiary, LIN Digital Media, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Federated Media Publishing. The purchase price was not disclosed.

Federated Media is a digital content and conversational marketing company that leverages the relationships and content from its exclusive publishing network to deliver what it calls “contextually relevant advertising opportunities, and conversational and engagement tools that effectively reach agencies’ and brands’ targeted audiences across digital and social media platforms.”

“The acquisition of Federated Media brings an additional layer of dynamic, proven and integrated solutions to our ever expanding platforms,” said Vincent L. Sadusky, president-CEO of LIN Media. “Superior content is at the epicenter of both our companies, and this acquisition will extend our core competencies, drive important synergies and further diversify our revenue streams.”

Federated Media pioneered “conversational marketing” around the concept that high-quality independent sites and services attract influential audiences who together create meaningful dialogue to enhance brand loyalty and drive increased sales. Founded in 2005, with offices in New York, San Francisco and Chicago, Federated Media is a primary partner for agencies and brands looking to build relationships with high influence bloggers who produce original content daily for a wide variety of vertical categories, including parenting, lifestyle, food, fashion, business and technology.

“Extending a brand’s footprint with consumers across all screens has been the core strategy, strength and growth catalyst for LIN Media since day one,” said Robb Richter, LIN Media’s SVP digital. “Adding Federated Media to our portfolio, inclusive of our ComScore Top 15 Video and Display rankings, provides new opportunities for agencies and brands to reach their chosen demographic with the right ad, to the right audience, at the right time.”

LIN says Federated Media’s core demographics, content verticals and reach of more than 33 million unique visitors per month will provide its clients “deeper engagement, more robust native ad solutions and significantly extend its premium video and social platform offerings.”

Commenting on the announcement, Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker said: “Given the lack of disclosure, we don’t view the purchase price to be material, but we do think this is a nice complement to LIN’s growing digital assets (we expect more details on the Feb. 6 earnings call). Additionally, we do NOT believe this is in place of or precludes station acquisitions, which we still think is likely to occur at some point in 2014.”

Prior to closing, Federated Media will transfer the assets obtained during its 2011 acquisition of Lijit Networks Inc. to a newly formed company, sovrn Holdings Inc.