• by Ray Schultz , May 9, 2023

Dotdash Meredith suffered a 15% decline in digital revenue in Q1 YoY to $184.9, according to financials released Tuesday by parent IAC.

However, “trends improved throughout the quarter, with a 20% drop in January improving to a 10% decline in March,” CEO Joey Levin writes in a shareholder letter.

Levin adds, “We see light at the end of what has been a long tunnel and continue to believe we’ll see Digital revenue and audience stabilize year-over-year exiting Q2 and growth in the second half of this year.

But Levin concedes, “The historical Dotdash properties are still getting lower engagement than a year ago when people were spending more time online, but the gaps have narrowed. “

Print revenue had a 29% decline to $207 million.

Overall, Dotdash Meredith had an operating loss of $111 million, reflecting “$70 million related to a non-cash lease impairment,” the company says.  

But next week, the company is launching “a major new advertising product,” that offers advertisers “targeted, intent-driven campaigns across the properties using no cookies.”

Levin states, “We believe this is a product only Dotdash Meredith can offer, given the depth of our brands and the nature of our content.”

Dotdash Meredith apparently is the company’s top revenue generator, beating Angi, search and other products. 

In a separate statement Levin seems to reject Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI).  

“As premium content creators, we play close attention,” he writes. “Fortunately the GAI models have so far gone out of their way to brand themselves as untrustworthy, deservedly so. The first thing a user encounters on the two largest consumer-facing GAI tools in the market is a large warning sign reminding the user not to depend on its answer. 

Levin continues, “At Dotdash Meredith, we are happy to tout exactly the opposite.  We’ve done the work, and we stand behind our results.  Maintaining trust is essential for our brands, and we do so by doing the work for our users that computer models cannot.” 

Total IAC revenue was $1,004.3 million, down 18% YoY.