Canada’s largest newspaper publisher, Postmedia Network, is instituting a programme of cost-cutting. Why? The sobering figures tell the story.
Revenue for the quarter that ended on 30 November 2015 showed a 13.1% decrease on the same period the previous year, down to $147.4m (£71.3m).
Stand-alone print advertising revenue fell by 17.6% to $16.4m (£7.9m), print circulation revenue was down 6.7% to $3.2m (£1.5m) and digital media revenue fell 5.7% to just $1.4m (£680,000). The result was a $4.2m (£2m) net loss for the quarter.
Postmedia, which owns the National Post, Toronto Sun and a group other major Canadian newspapers, is now aiming to reduce costs of $80m (£39m) by mid-2017, up from its previous target of $50m (£24m) cuts by the end of 2017.
In October 2014, Postmedia agreed to acquire Quebecor’s Sun Media newspapers, a deal concluded last year. That did help to push up the combined company’s revenue, but not enough to generate smiles in the boardroom.
Postmedia said the decrease in print advertising revenue “relates to weakness across all our major advertising categories including local, national and insert advertising.”
Source: Globe & Mail
