• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, August 1, 2024

Like many publishers, Gannett is trying to balance print and digital.

But digital -- which is growing rapidly and is expected to hit 55% of total revenue in 2026, judging by the company’s Q2 financials -- now stands at 44%. 

Gannett's total revenue fell by 4.8% YoY to $639.8 million, with print and commercial declining to $361.4 million compared to $410.2 million in the same quarter last year, while same-store sales dropped by 4.6%. 

Digital, however, grew by 6.2% to $278.3 million -- and is expected to jump by 10% for the full year and to account for 50% of total revenue in 2025. It now records 185 million unique visitors. 

With the company leaning in to digital, it might mean that print newspapers will increasingly be reduced in frequency and delivered via the unreliable U.S. Postal Service. 

However, there are positives. The Q2 digital highlights, which the company emphasized in Thursday’s announcement, included: 

- Digital-only subscription revenue grew by 22.3% YoY to $46.3 million. There were 2.03 million digital-only paid subscriptions a 4.2% increase YoY.

- Average digital-only revenue per user hit $7.52, a 20% increase. 

- Digital ad revenue grew by 3.6% to $84.5 million.

Meanwhile, Gannett’s Digital Marketing Solutions segment grew by 1% to $122.8 million. Net income totaled $13.7 million for the quarter. 

Of course, there are rumblings that may detract from this positive picture, including labor and increasing unionization in some newsrooms. In addition, a large amount of debt remains, although the firm repaid $24.3 million of debt and says its total net debt has fallen under $1 billion for the first time since the 2019 merger with Gatehouse Media. 

But for now, the company seems to be on course. “Our operational performance in the second quarter reinforces the confidence we have in our strategic direction, and as such, we are reiterating our business outlook," says CEO Michael Reed.