![]() But for the first nine month of 2017, the broadcast-focused company’s core digital ad sales were $95.6 million, up just 2.9% year over year on a pro-forma basis. ![]() That’s given Univision’s Fusion Media Group an online reach of more than 110 million monthly unique users. As proof of that, look no further than results posted by Univision Communications, which purchased six Gawker websites in a bankruptcy auction last year and combined those with other digital-media investments including its majority stake in the Onion. In other words, simply hitting critical mass in terms of aggregate audience doesn’t guarantee that the whole will be substantially greater than the sum of the parts. Increasingly, “marketers and agencies are consolidating budgets with partners who have the scale, trusted brands and ability to deliver improved return on ad spend,” Tom Harty, Meredith’s president and COO, told analysts on the call.īut according to eMarketer’s Verna, neither company has been “particularly groundbreaking in digital video or in their digital strategies overall.” While they will be able to pool resources, “if you’re taking two companies – neither of which is a clear leader in the digital space – what makes you think bringing them together gets them any closer to getting there?” ![]() Meredith has announced a live-video series partnership with Rachael Ray to launch in 2018, along with original series from Parents, Martha Stewart Living and Better Homes & Gardens. has launched the PeopleTV ad-supported internet network and a subscription-VOD service for Sports Illustrated. ![]() Among recent video initiatives, Time Inc. and Meredith properties generate north of 10 billion video views annually. What’s also unclear is the extent to which the deal’s financing by the controversial Koch brothers, the conservative billionaire brothers who head Koch Industries, might discolor Time Inc.’s storied news-driven brands like Time, Fortune and Sports Illustrated (even as Meredith has vowed that the Kochs will have no control over business decisions).Īccording to Meredith execs, the deal presents significant upside potential in reaching millennial audiences particularly with video. The companies are projecting up to $500 million in cost savings in the first two years, including $240 million to $300 million in “public company and duplicative expenses.” That could mean the elimination of a few thousand jobs at Time Inc., the New York Post reported, citing industry speculation. and Meredith will run as they get mashed together, and what institutional knowledge they’ll lose in the process. There’s the question of how deep and wide the cutbacks at Time Inc. But, he added, “The combination of the two is still relatively small in an industry that’s dominated by Google and Facebook, with Amazon still the sleeping giant.” Looking at the big picture, the companies are likely better off joining forces, Pivotal Research senior research analyst Brian Wieser said. Lacy appeared to be referencing digital upstarts that have stirred a whirlwind of hype like BuzzFeed, which has landed $400 million in investment from NBCUniversal but will reportedly miss its 2017 revenue target of $350 million. About 34% of the ad revenue for the two companies came from digital platforms for the 12 months ended Sept. “That’s a digital business much larger than many standalone activities that trade at very high multiples in the marketplace,” Lacy said. In 2016, the businesses generated about $700 million digital ad revenue combined. 6 among the biggest digital-media properties in the U.S., per comScore. and Meredith had 174 million unique monthly visitors in September 2017 - making it No. Steve Lacy, Meredith’s chairman and CEO, highlighted the combined companies’ digital business on a call Monday with analysts discussing the deal.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |