Digital news content is under considerable demand. In fact, in 2018, 34% of U.S. adults said they prefer to get their news content from online sources through websites, apps, or even social media, as highlighted by Pew Research. That’s up from 28% of Americans in 2016.
In addition, the amount of time spent on traditional media has been falling for years, says Statista, as consumers transition to digital media. Circulation of newspapers for example has been cut in half over the last 30 years, with many publications moving online. “The magazine industry is facing similar challenges to those of the newspaper industry; more and more consumers are interested in web based magazine content as opposed to print,” adds Stasista.
“Around 211 million Americans use social networking sites, many of which have become their hub for finding news, media, and entertainment,” they add. As that happens, it’s no surprise that digital media has begun to thrive. In fact, some of the companies to keep an eye on include Media Central Corporation (CSE:FLYY), News Corp. (NASDAQ:NWS), AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE:GCI).
Media Central Corporation (CSE:FLYY) BREAKING NEWS: Media Central Corporation Inc. released month-end data showcasing rising digital interaction across all of its wholly owned properties. Toronto’s NOW Magazine, Vancouver’s Georgia Straight and cannabis-specialty platform Canncentral.com all reporting impressive month-over-month user, session and pageview growth for the second month in a row.
Comparing Google Analytics from March 2020 to April 2020, NOW Magazine expanded: users by 57 per cent, sessions by 56 per cent and pageviews by 49 per cent1. The Straight also reported increased digital interactions with users and sessions both up by 46 per cent and a 35 per cent2 upsurge in pageviews. Canncentral, which launched in fall 2019, continues to skyrocket with more cannabis enthusiasts engaging on the digital platform each month. In April, the cannabis lifestyle platform grew: users by 126 per cent, sessions by 120 per cent and pageviews by 94 per cent3.
“For the second month in a row, our digital publications are demonstrating rapid growth. We can attribute this to our technology team, strategic investment in upgrades, cross-pollinating our readers between publications and 24/7 quality omnichannel approach to publishing,” said Brian Kalish, CEO of MediaCentral. “We’ve invested in enhancing and digitizing our titles from introducing new content verticals like psychedelics and esports, to intensifying our social media presence, to launching a very well received podcast at NOW. Our efforts have successfully resulted in our ever-expanding audience spending more time on our digital platforms. This accelerates opportunities to monetize our properties as we look to tap into a vast $333 billion digital advertising industry4.”
Since taking ownership of the iconic urban publications NOW and the Straight in November 2019 and February 2020 respectively, the Company has invested in transforming the legacy publications into leading digital platforms. Recent announcements include the launch of new technology-based upgrades that will allow MediaCentral to monetize its existing audience including introducing affiliate marketing, automated marketing and programmatic advertising.
“We are thrilled with the progress we are making in transforming NOW and the Straight into modern media brands. This proves we are on track with our mission to amass an influential audience of 100 million consumers by consolidating, uniting and digitizing over 100 independent urban publications across North America. We are actively searching for synergistic and accretive acquisition opportunities to continue to grow our dedicated audience as we move forward in building a profitable and innovative digital publishing house,” said Kalish.
In addition to acquiring existing urban publications the Company plans to build new digital sites to expand its audience further. In April, MediaCentral announced the beta-testing of its fourth property, a digital site dedicated to the burgeoning esports and egaming industry.
Summary of audience growth comparing March 2020 to April 2020
NOW Magazine
Users: From 1,138,594 to 1,791,520; 57.34% increase
Sessions: From 1,441,757 to 2,257,844; 56.60% increase
Pageviews: From 1,833,238 to 2,732,942; 49.08% increase
The Straight
Users: From 1,697,040 to 2,483,901; 46.37% increase
Sessions: From 2,229,411 to 3,262,637; 46.35% increase
Pageviews: From 3,064,664 to 4,137,408; 35% increase
Other related developments from around the markets include:
News Corp. (NASDAQ:NWS) announced that Dow Jones set new performance records in the third quarter of fiscal 2020, meeting a growing global need for fact-based reporting and high quality data and analysis. “These Dow Jones numbers are vastly superior to those announced by The New York Times yesterday. Digital advertising increased by 25% at Dow Jones, while it fell during the same quarter by 8% at The New York Times. And while year-on-year profitability declined double digits at the NYT, it rose at Dow Jones, and was a key contributor to our News and Information segment’s 15% increase. Revenue growth at Dow Jones in the quarter, at 5%, also outpaced the NYT’s 1% increase,” said Robert Thomson, Chief Executive of News Corp. “The relative success of The Wall Street Journal shows the value to readers of trusted news analysis, of pithy, pertinent opinion writers, and of reporters who have the objective of being objective. The WSJ subscriber base and the MarketWatch audience are patently a platform for further growth, as the team has been able to upsell readers to Barron’s and to professional information products that are essential for business and higher yielding.”
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) will webcast a keynote address by John Stankey, AT&T Inc. president and chief operating officer, and incoming CEO, at the J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference on Wednesday, May 13, 2020. The presentation will be held virtually and is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) announced financial resultsfor the quarter ended March 31, 2020. “Given the depth of the challenges so many are facing, it’s a huge privilege to be able to help at this time,” said Sundar Pichai, Chief Executive Officer of Alphabet and Google. “People are relying on Google’s services more than ever and we’ve marshalled our resources and product development in this urgent moment.” “Our business, led by Search, YouTube, and Cloud, drove Alphabet revenues to $41.2 billion, up 13% versus last year, or 15% on a constant currency basis,” said Ruth Porat, Chief Financial Officer of Alphabet and Google. “Performance was strong during the first two months of the quarter, but then in March we experienced a significant slowdown in ad revenues. We are sharpening our focus on executing more efficiently, while continuing to invest in our long-term opportunities.”
Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE:GCI) reported its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2020. Prior to November 19, 2019, our corporate name was New Media Investment Group Inc., and Gannett Co., Inc. was a separate publicly traded company. On November 19, 2019, New Media acquired Legacy Gannett. In connection with the Acquisition, Legacy Gannett became a wholly owned subsidiary of New Media, and New Media changed its name to Gannett Co., Inc. “We are pleased to announce solid first quarter financial results this morning,” said Michael Reed, Gannett Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “Revenue and EBITDA performance were strong, despite the disruption experienced over the last two weeks of March from the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact on our business from the pandemic came fast and is significant. However, we continue to execute on our operating and integration plans from the Acquisition of Legacy Gannett last year. The realization of synergies remains on track and debt pay down remains ahead of schedule. We have also moved aggressively to manage through the current economic crisis by taking measures to preserve and increase liquidity and financial performance, including further cost reductions, limits on capital expenditures, and the suspension of our quarterly dividend. We continue to evaluate additional options to strengthen our company as we navigate through this crisis.”
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