• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, November 7, 2023

IAC’s magazine publishing firm, Dotdash Meredith, saw a 4% decline in its Q3 digital revenue YoY for a total of $212 million and a 16% drop in print to $211 million. 

This marked the best YoY performance since Q1 2022, IAC says. 

Total Dotdash revenue for the quarter was $417.5 million, an 11% decline from $467.1 million in Q3 2022.

These declines were due to a 12% falloff in advertising revenue, versus a 16% decline in Q2 2023. IAC blamed:

• Lower premium sold advertising 
• Lower programmatic advertising revenue due to lower traffic, particularly on entertainment and certain partner sites.

On the other hand, performance marketing revenue increased 22%, up from 12% growth in Q2 2023. This was driven by 49% affiliate commerce growth. Licensing revenue fell 7%, mostly because of lower royalties earned from retail.

Total IAC revenue hit $1.1 billion, a 15% decline from $1.3 billion in Q3 2022. Its operating loss was $4 million, compared to $92 million in the same period last year. 

“Our biggest business, Dotdash Meredith, grew Adjusted EBITDA 37% year-over-year if you exclude one-time charges in Q3 2022 (reported growth was 119%),” IAC CEO Joey Levin wrote in a letter to shareholders. 

Levin added, “We’ve stopped the slide in Digital revenue and don’t expect any further decline from here as traffic growth on the core brands has returned. With a much lower cost base, profits should continue to increase healthily.” 

At the same time, Levin reported, “The advertising market is still soft, with premium sales continuing to vary by category and our programmatic market rates improving sequentially (and above the market).” 

Levin also noted, “Over the last few years, the fourth quarter has generated roughly 30% of Dotdash Meredith’s total Digital revenue for the year, and we expect that weighting to continue this year.”