Guardian ad revenue plunges as it plans Observer sale
Guardian Media Group posted a double-digit drop in advertising revenue in its latest financial results, as it revealed it is in talks to sell The Observer.
Ad revenue fell 13% to £62.2m in the 2023/24 financial year ending 31 March, compared with £71.3m a year earlier.
A spokesperson for The Guardian told The Media Leader the decline in ad revenue could be attributed to having to “navigate a significant ad market recession” in both the UK and US. In the latter market, the spokesperson added The Guardian was “exposed to sectors which suffered disproportionate decline”.
Reach, the UK’s largest publisher, reported a similar 11.5% decline in print advertising revenue during the first half of 2024.
Overall revenue fell 2.5% to £257.8m, thanks to digital reader revenue growth of 8% to £88.2m. Print reader revenue declined 2.6% to £66.9m, while other revenue (which includes content licensing and job listings) dropped 4.7% to £40.5m.
The company posted adjusted net operating cash outflow of £36.5m, attributing this to continued investment in Guardian US and a Guardian Europe edition, as well as planned technology and product investment, including the launch of the Feast cooking app.
Meanwhile, Guardian Media Group told staff on Tuesday that it is in talks to sell The Observer, the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper, to Tortoise Media. The Guardian acquired the title in 1993.
Tortoise’s offer includes a commitment to invest over £25m in The Observer‘s editorial and commercial teams over the next five years.
Guardian editor-in-chief Katharine Viner called the development potentially “a very positive thing for both The Observer and The Guardian”, adding that it is “extremely important” to her that the newspaper “is in good hands”.
Tortoise said it would continue to publish The Observer on Sundays and would seek to build out the digital Observer brand in combination with Tortoise’s other podcasts, newsletters and live events.
James Harding, the former BBC News director, Times editor and founder of Tortoise, said: “We think The Observer is one of the greatest names in news. We believe passionately in its future — both in print and digital. We will honour the values and standards set under The Guardian’s great stewardship and uphold The Observer’s uncompromising commitment to editorial independence, evidence-based reporting and journalistic integrity.
“Like its many, many loyal readers, we admire the strength and heart of The Observer’s reporting. We prize its original, unbiddable thinking and we love it for its passions: food, music, film and art. George Orwell described The Observer as ‘the enemy of nonsense’; we’re excited to show readers, old and new, that it still is.”
Anna Bateson, Guardian Media Group’s CEO, added: “This is an exciting strategic opportunity for the Guardian Media Group. It provides a chance to build The Observer’s future position with a significant investment and allow The Guardian to focus on its growth strategy to be more global, more digital and more reader-funded.”
Harding founded Tortoise in 2019. The outlet says it is backed by “a range of financial investors” inclusive of Thomson Reuters chairman David Thomson. No investor has a controlling interest.
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