A decline in revenue from its printed US titles pushed down first quarter group sales at Future, the Bath-based inte
rnational media group – but strong growth in digital meant that for the first time it represented a larger share of its total advertising income than print.
Digital revenues rose by 24% in the three months to December 31, Future said in an interim management statement to the London Stock Exchange. But the fall in print revenues in the US pushed total income down by 3%. The decline in the UK was lower at 1% – a performance Future described as “solid”. No financial figures were put against the percentages by Future in the statement.
Digital revenues now represent 23% of normalised revenues, compared with 18% for the previous first quarter Future said. Digital advertising now represents 54% of total advertising revenues, up from 45% a year ago.
Normalised digital circulation revenues on iPads and other tablets averaged quarterly growth of 16% over the last year – Future now has more than 40 of its titles on Google Play’s new Magazine Shop, which launched last December.
Future said in the statement: “In the US, digital advertising now represents 74% of total advertising revenues (from 64% a year ago), reflecting the faster acceleration from print to digital platforms.”
As a result first quarter losses in the US were lower than in the same period in the previous year and Future expects its operations there to move into profit this year.
