Nearly a year after completing a major media merger, USA TODAY owner Gannett is betting on paid digital subscriptions to deliver revenue growth while using cost cuts to offset its declining print business and the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
USAToday reports the company, which owns more than 260 daily publications and hundreds of weeklies, reported a net loss of $31.3 million in the third quarter, compared with an $18.5 million loss in the same period a year earlier. Gannett also posted a 19.5% year-over-year decline in revenue to $814.5 million. But that was an improvement over the 28% year-over-year decline in the prior quarter.
“Our third quarter results showed a significant and rapid rebound from the second quarter impact of the COVID pandemic and economic shut down,” CEO and Chairman Michael Reed said in a statement.
The media company also recorded adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $88 million, reflecting a profit margin of 10.8%.
Gannett reported that it surpassed 1 million paid online-only subscriptions for the first time, recording a 31.1% increase from a year earlier to 1.03 million. Online subscriptions are viewed as critical to the success of media companies in the digital age as newspaper dollars decline.
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