• by Ray Schultz , August 20, 2021

Nexstar Media Inc. has acquired The Hill, the widely read political news site, for $130 million, following reports that it was in play. 

The purchase combines products that together are used by one-third of all U.S. digital media viewers, Nexstar claims. 

The Hill boasted 48 million average monthly viewers and 2.2 billion page views in 2020, according to Comscore. Nexstar has 91 million viewers and 7.8 billion page views.

The “centrist” Hill has roughly 100 journalists covering political news and events and seems a good fit with Nexstar’s cable news network NewsNation, which counts 5,500 reporters. 

“The accretive acquisition of The Hill’s independent, political digital media platform marks continued progress with Nexstar’s ‘content-first strategy’ and reflects our organization-wide commitment to deliver trusted, unbiased, fact-based journalism,” states Tom Carter, Nexstar president-COO. 

The purchase follows Nexstar’s December 2020 acquisition of BestReviews, which Carter says is already benefiting from its incorporation into the Nexstar digital network. 

Carter adds that Nexstar “will continue to focus on select strategic, accretive digital investments to complement, leverage and scale our content offerings.”

Jimmy Finkelstein, chairman of The Hill, says Nexstar will continue to "accelerate its growth.” 

Bret Pearlman of HRS Management, The Hill’s largest investor, adds: “We are pleased to have been investors in The Hill and partners with Mr. Finkelstein for the past five years as he and the Company’s management team transformed the business into a digital media powerhouse.”