Irish Independent publisher Mediahuis anticipates ‘even more radical digital shift’

Mediahuis Ireland saw subscriber numbers climb 32 per cent in 2022, its Antwerp, Belgium-headquartered parent group said on Monday, as its chief executive flagged the likelihood of “even more radical digital shift” in the inflation-struck news business.

The publisher of the Independent, Sunday Independent, the Sunday World and the Belfast Telegraph, among other titles, said a year ago that it had 50,000 subscribers in its Irish company, pointing to a new tally of about 66,000.

The Irish titles only began introducing paywalls in February 2020, six months after Mediahuis completed its takeover of the company previously known as Independent News & Media (INM).

The group – which also has publishing and other digital operations in the Netherlands, Luxembourg and most recently Germany – said it had “shown resilience and posted a strong result” as it reported an 8 per cent increase in revenues but a slide in profits amid inflationary pressures, which include the “historically high” cost of printing paper.

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The rise in turnover to €1.2 billion was partly thanks to its acquisition of Aachener Verlagsgesellschaft, completed in early 2022, which makes Mediahuis a 70 per cent shareholder in the German publisher of titles including daily newspaper Aachener Zeitung.

The expansion in revenues was also assisted by its acquisition of digital marketplaces Carzone and Switcher.ie the Irish market.

[ Irish Independent publisher Mediahuis pledges to tackle male bias as it reveals gender pay gap of 22% ]

Across the group, Mediahuis said it had maintained its total number of subscribers at about 1.8 million, though it noted that subscription growth “came under pressure” in 2022 because of the “difficult economic context”.

The number of digital subscribers grew 13 per cent, but a decline in print subscribers “continued unabated”, falling 11 per cent.

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While the advertising market “seems to have fully recovered post-Covid”, the company noted, competition increased in the Belgian market, while sharply rising energy and paper costs and “significant” distribution problems in the Dutch and German markets negatively affected the group’s final results.

Paper costs alone increased by more than €30 million across the company in 2022, it said.

But it added that it had “managed to largely absorb the effects”, partly through energy price hedging, as it recorded an operating profit of €155.7 million, down 6.3 per cent, and a net result of €65.3 million, down 45 per cent. The drop in the net figure is starker because it rose on a once-off basis in 2021 following its sale of a stake in digital puzzle company Keesing.

“As a group, we showed that we are resilient. The digital transition continues, although at a slower pace than in the Covid years. Our strong journalism and digital news experience are making a difference every day and enabling us to absorb the structural decline in print,” said Mediahuis group chief executive Gert Ysebaert.

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“A large group of readers remain loyal to the printed newspaper. However, ensuring continuity of delivery is becoming increasingly challenging,” he said.

“Moreover, the media world is transforming at an unprecedented speed, driven by technological innovations such as artificial intelligence, as well as changing consumer behaviour. All this means that, more than ever, we need to anticipate an even more radical digital shift.”

Mediahuis Ireland, led by chief executive Peter Vandermeersch, last month closed its last remaining Irish printing plant – in Newry – and moved entirely to contract printing.

[ Mediahuis to close Newry plant with Irish Times Group to print Irish and Sunday Independent titles ]

The Irish Independent and Sunday Independent are now published by The Irish Times Group, while the Belfast Telegraph is published by Interpress.

Mediahuis has also reduced printing capacity outside of Ireland, closing its printing plants in Luxembourg last year. It said this had helped it keep fixed costs under control despite the impact of inflation.