By Kevin McCauley
Gannett Corp. today announced a 33 percent rise in third-quarter net profit to $133M, fueled by a strong performance in its TV group. Revenues were up a modest 3.4 percent to $1.3B.
CEO Gracia Martore said the $618M broadcast group achieved record results as its TV stations “leveraged Top 10 ratings positions and a more locally focused sales effort to generated substantially higher Olympic spending.”
They also “maximized the opportunity to attract political spending,” according to the CEO’s statement.
The publishing group, led by the USA Today flagship reported a three percent decline in revenues to $890M.
Martore, however, is bullish with the results of the online subscription model that has been introduced in 71 markets. The unit has a 65 percent rise in digital revenues.
The USA Today re-launch, which “re-imagined and redesigned” the publication for consumers and advertisers, was completed in September.
Martore said Gannett is seeing early success and great progress in positioning the company for growth in the digital era.
For the nine-month period, Gannett reported a six percent rise in net income to $321M on flat revenues of $3.8B |