DMGT grew revenue in 2023 | Digital shift at 144 year-old The Stage
Welcome to your daily newsletter from Press Gazette on Wednesday 14 February.
The latest results from Mail publisher DMGT reveal headline revenue growth for the year to the end of September 2023. It's a win given the current tough economic climate for news media companies.
But its consumer media titles - including i, the Daily Mail and Metro - have reported falling advertising and circulation revenue. The company has been bailed out thanks to a soaraway performance from its UAE-based B2B events and exhibitions business.
The consumer media numbers help explain the change of focus for Mail Online as it has begun charging for some online content this year.
It is encouraging to see that, 144 years on from launch, UK theatre industry newspaper The Stage is still going strong.
We spoke to managing director Hugh Comerford about how The Stage and its even older sister title The Bookseller is managing the business of digital transition.
With a joint headcount of around 56, resources are being shifted away from print and towards the brands' paywalled websites and popular email newsletters.
New from Press Gazette
Growth in B2B events income offsets consumer media decline at DMGT
Overall DMGT made a pre-tax loss of £12.6m, on turnover up 2% to £997m. But when one-off costs and accounting charges like “impairment of goodwill” are removed from the picture, the group made an adjusted pre-tax profit of £41m.
The Stage and Bookseller shift resources towards digital future
The Stage Media Company’s managing director Hugh Comerford told Press Gazette revenue from both digital subscriptions and advertising have been growing and the business now aims to grow its events offering.
News in brief
Bustle Media Group has reportedly laid off seven editorial staff from its title Fatherly and will "significantly decrease" its output going forward. Nine full-time employees were also let go last month from Bustle, Romper and Elite Daily, Adweek reports.
All of Meta's News Media Bargaining Code agreements with Australian publishers expire this year. Meta's Australia and New Zealand managing director said: "When we’re ready to talk about it, we’ll probably be talking to the organisations that have either taken funding or are looking for it.” (Australian Financial Review)
Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Ismail Abu Omar and cameraman Ahmad Matar have been seriously wounded in an Israeli drone strike north of Rafah which Al Jazeera reports “directly targeted” the journalists. Abu Omar has had his right leg amputated and doctors are attempting to save his left leg. (Al Jazeera)
Head of ITVX Chris Achilleos is joining the BBC as executive news editor, streaming to oversee its digital transformation as it grows streaming on iPlayer, news live pages and bbc.com, and lead three teams focused on single-story live streams. (BBC)
The Wall Street Journal will mark one year since its reporter Evan Gershkovich was detained in Russia with a 24-hour read-athon of his work in its New York City newsroom from 12pm ET on 27 March. It will be livestreamed at wsj.com/Evan and on Youtube. (Dow Jones)
The Messenger founder Jimmy Finkelstein has given an interview to Axios about the failed site, maintaining that it would have been profitable by August if he could have raised more money to keep it afloat until then and he put in "millions towards the end". (Axios)
Subtext, a texting platform for media companies connecting them directly with subscribers, is offering free access to any journalist who has been laid off in the past six months so they can build a paid subscriber community that they own. (Subtext)
Axel Springer has built a US leadership team ten years after entering the market. It said this shows its "long-term commitment to the US market. We are here to stay – a truly transatlantic media company". (Axel Springer)
The Guildford Dragon local online newspaper in Surrey has been awarded charitable status after demonstrating it delivered public interest news. Its legal adviser said "charitable status is now a practical possibility for suitable public interest news providers". (Civil Society)
Dotdash Meredith has become a rare media business to report digital advertising growth in Q4 2023, increasing 4% driven by higher programmatic ad revenue and helped by a 10% traffic boost. Overall digital revenue was up 9% but print was down 10%, so it stayed steady. (IAC)
The Daily Beast's media newsletter Confider is "on hiatus" - but possibly "dead" - after editor at large Lachlan Cartwright, who started it two years ago, left to join The Hollywood Reporter. (The Wrap)
Around 20 employees at CBS News in Washington DC, New York and LA have reportedly been laid off as part of wider redundancies at owner Paramount Global affecting 800 people. (Variety)
Irish Examiner columnist Séamas O'Reilly has had his X account suspended hours after he published a piece criticising the ubiquity of bots on the platform. O’Reilly said he while he does not consider the loss a “sobering global news event”, Twitter had been "the platform through which I’ve grown a career from scratch". (Irish Examiner)
Latest podcast
Podcast 65: Beyond Google? Amazon and Microsoft are future says Ricky Sutton
Former online editor of the News of the World turned tech entrepreneur turned future of news soothsayer Ricky Sutton joins Dominic Ponsford on the podcast sofa.
He explains why Google’s reign as the most important tech partner for news publishers is drawing to a close, but more lucrative partnerships around AI and advertising with Microsoft and Amazon beckon.
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