Australia’s biggest magazine publisher, Are Media, is on the market after its private equity owner Mercury Capital confirmed plans to sell the business it acquired five years ago. Are Media was created through the merger of Bauer Media and Pacific Magazines, once fierce rivals and together the dominant force in Australian magazine publishing. Mercury Capital picked up the combined business for a reported $50 million in 2020, a fraction of the $565 million Bauer had originally paid for its Australian portfolio. The publisher owns many of the country’s most recognisable titles, including Australian Women’s Weekly, Woman’s Day, New Idea and…

The Dallas Morning News, one of the last major family-owned newspapers in the US, has been sold to Hearst for $74.9 million. The deal, approved unanimously by both companies’ boards, will see shareholders of DallasNews Corporation receive $14 per share in cash, a 219% premium on the company’s closing price before the announcement. The transaction is expected to close in the third or early fourth quarter of 2025. Founded in 1885, the Morning News has been a fixture in Texas journalism, with a legacy of Pulitzer-winning investigative reporting and deep local ties. Its sale to Hearst, a media conglomerate, ends…

Condé Nast has taken full control of Wired Middle East, bringing the title in-house after five years under licence with Dubai-based publisher Nervora. The move expands the New York-based publisher’s presence in the region and signals a deeper commitment to covering science, technology and innovation in the Middle East. Wired Middle East will now sit alongside Condé Nast’s other wholly owned titles in Dubai, including Architectural Digest, Condé Nast Traveller, GQ and Vogue Arabia. The company said the publication would continue to operate as a digital-first platform focused on telling stories that connect local breakthroughs with global trends. The Middle…

Venture capitalist Michael Moritz is deepening his investment in journalism with a strategic expansion of The San Francisco Standard, the digital news outlet he co-founded in 2021. In an interview with the New York Times, Moritz described news and information in any city as “as vital as water, electricity and gas,” underscoring his view that local media should be treated as essential infrastructure. The Standard, which already attracts more than a million readers a month with a mix of investigative reporting and cultural coverage, has acquired Charter, a digital publication focused on the future of work. The move brings…

South Africa’s largest media company, Media24, has reported a 17% fall in revenue for the financial year ending March 2025, as it winds down most of its print operations and accelerates a shift to digital. Revenue dropped from R3.2 billion ($175 million) in 2024 to R2.58 billion ($141 million) this year. The decline reflects deep structural changes in South African media, with shrinking readership, falling ad revenues and rising distribution costs making many print titles unsustainable. Over the past year, Media24 has scrapped most of its printed newspapers – including Beeld, Rapport, City Press, Daily Sun and Soccer Laduma. Parent…

Google has launched a new tool called Offerwall, designed to help publishers offset the sharp decline in traffic caused by the rise of AI-powered search. Announced on 26 June, the tool offers alternative ways for users to access content, including micro payments, ad viewing and survey participation, with the aim of generating revenue beyond the traditional, traffic-dependent advertising model. Available for free through Google Ad Manager after a year-long trial with 1,000 publishers, Offerwall uses AI to determine the best time to present these options to visitors. Publishers can also add custom actions such as newsletter signups. They retain full…

News Corp has extended the contract of its chief executive Robert Thomson to June 2030, backing his leadership through a decade of change that has seen the company’s share price rise 140%. Thomson, who has led the publisher since 2013, was previously contracted until 2027. His time in charge has been defined by a rapid shift from legacy businesses to digital operations. By the end of fiscal 2024, digital revenues accounted for half of News Corp’s total, up from just 20% in 2014. That transition has included vocal lobbying for publisher rights, partnerships with tech giants and a major divestment:…

Time Inc is positioning itself as a willing collaborator in the AI era, with CEO Jessica Sibley making the case for negotiation and integration over litigation or inertia. Speaking at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity this week, Sibley outlined how the 102-year-old publisher is embedding AI across its operations to remain influential and efficient in a fast-changing industry. Sibley said Time had quickly recognised that it faced a choice: to negotiate, litigate or do nothing. It chose to negotiate, aiming to “have a seat at the table” with leading AI developers. That decision has shaped a strategy that…

The French digital platform had defied sceptics with a fully subscriber-funded approach. Mediapart, the French digital news platform founded in 2008, has proved the doubters wrong. Launched with a fully subscription-based model and no advertising, it now has 233,000 paying subscribers and nearly €25 million in annual revenue, 99% of it from readers. Speaking at the World News Media Congress in Krakow, CEO Cécile Sourd said the model was essential to the title’s mission. “To truly be editorially independent, we have to be 100% financially independent,” she said, explaining why Mediapart rejects not just advertising but also public subsidies and…

Advertisers are reallocating budgets from traditional audio ads and influencer marketing, while smaller creators gain a bigger share of podcast ad spend. Podcasting is cementing its position as one of the most attractive advertising channels for brands seeking younger, digitally engaged audiences. New research suggests that by the end of 2025, advertisers will increasingly prioritise podcasts – especially video-led formats – over traditional audio and even influencer marketing, drawn by high engagement, strong recall and growing perceptions of authenticity. A report released today by Sounds Profitable, produced in collaboration with Signal Hill Insights, surveyed more than 5,000 American adults to assess how…