Gannett, Lee Enteprises Report Strong Digital Results

Gannett posted revenues of $668.9 million in its Q1, a 10.6% decrease YoY. But digital revenues were strong, hitting $257.5 million, 37% of the company total, a 0.9% falloff from 2022 reports Mediapost.  

Overall net income totaled $10.3 million in Q1, adjustable to $5.8 million, versus a $3 million net loss in the same period of 2022.

“We made significant progress across the majority of our key financial measures, and we believe our results demonstrate the effectiveness of the measures we implemented in the latter half of 2022 to position the Company for long-term success”, said Michael Reed, Gannett Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.  That included layoffs.

The company reported these results:

• Digital-only circulation revenues hit $35.8 million an18.9% hike year-over-year and 19.9% on a same-store basis. 
• Digital Marketing Solutions revenues grew by 2.8% to $112.8 million, a 3.4% increase on a same store basis)
• Digital-only paid subscriptions reached 2.02, up 15.4% 
• There were 186 million average monthly unique visitors in the first quarter of 2023 with 135 million average monthly unique visitos from Gannett’s USA Today Network, based on the March based on March 2023 Comscore Media Metrix.

Also Lee Enterprises, which describes itself as a “digital-first subscription platform,” has realized $170.6 million in revenue in its second quarter, down from $190 million in the same period last year.

There was a net loss of $5.8 million, an improvement on the $6.7 million reported in Q2 2022. Digital revenue totaled $65 million, a 12% increase YoY. Digital now makes up 38% of the firm’s total operating revenue.

In addition, digital-only subscription revenue increased 39% YoY due to a 21% increase in digital-only subscribers and increases in average rates. There were 596,000 digital-only subscribers at the end of quarter.