Time Inc. revenue down on all fields, will buy MySpace parent
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Subscription revenues decreased $6 million.
Results for the quarter ended September 30, 2014 included $6 million of revenues from disposed Mexico-based operations, Grupo Editorial Expansión (GEX) and were adversely impacted by $3 million from the wholesaler transition first announced in May 2014.
Excluding the impacts of U.S. dollar/British pound exchange rate changes, the GEX disposition and the wholesaler transition, Revenues would have decreased 5%.
Advertising revenues decreased $30 million or 7% in the third quarter of 2015 from the year-earlier quarter to $398 million. The stronger U.S. dollar relative to the British pound had a $2 million adverse impact on Advertising revenues.
Results for the quarter ended September 30, 2014 included $5 million of Advertising revenues from GEX. Excluding the impacts of U.S. dollar/British pound exchange rate changes and the GEX disposition, Advertising revenues would have decreased 5%.
Print and other advertising revenues decreased $44 million or 12% in the third quarter of 2015 from the year-earlier quarter to $319 million. The quarter ended September 30, 2014 included $3 million of Print and other advertising revenues from GEX.
Excluding the impacts of U.S. dollar/British pound exchange rate changes and the GEX disposition, Print and other advertising revenues would have decreased 11%.
The decrease was driven principally by a decline in advertising pages sold primarily due to the continuing trend of advertisers shifting advertising spending from print to other media, and by lower average price per page of advertising sold primarily due to the category mix of advertisers.
Domestic titles experienced advertising declines in the beauty, fashion/retail and financial categories, partially offset by strong sales in the technology/telecommunications and food categories.
Digital advertising revenues increased $14 million or 22% in the third quarter of 2015 from the year-earlier quarter to $79 million. The quarter ended September 30, 2014 included $2 million of Digital advertising revenues from GEX.
Excluding the impacts of U.S. dollar/British pound exchange rate changes and the GEX disposition, Digital advertising revenues would have increased 27%, reflecting strong growth in video and programmatic sales.
Time Inc. served 116 million multiplatform unique visitors during September 2015 in the U.S., up 24% since September 2014.
Circulation revenues, which comprise subscription, newsstand and other circulation revenues, decreased $18 million or 6% in the third quarter of 2015 from the year-earlier quarter to $261 million.
The stronger U.S. dollar relative to the British pound adversely impacted Circulation revenues by $6 million. Results for the quarter ended September 30, 2014 were adversely impacted by $2 million from the wholesaler transition.
Excluding the impacts of U.S. dollar/British pound exchange rate changes and the wholesaler transition, Circulation revenues would have decreased 5% as a result of the continued shift in consumer preferences from print to digital media.
Subscription revenues decreased $6 million or 3% in the third quarter of 2015 from the year-earlier quarter to $168 million. The stronger U.S. dollar relative to the British pound adversely impacted Subscription revenues by $2 million. Excluding the impact of U.S. dollar/British pound exchange rate changes, Subscription revenues would have decreased 2%.
Newsstand revenues decreased $12 million or 12% in the third quarter of 2015 from the year-earlier quarter to $86 million. The stronger U.S. dollar relative to the British pound had a $4 million adverse impact on Newsstand revenues.
Newsstand revenues for the third quarter of 2014 were adversely impacted by $2 million from the wholesaler transition. Excluding the impacts of U.S. dollar/British pound exchange rate changes and the wholesaler transition, Newsstand revenues would have decreased 10%.
Other Revenues, which include marketing and support services provided to third parties, events, licensing and branded book publishing, remained flat in the third quarter of 2015 from the year-earlier quarter at $114 million. Declines at our book publishing business were offset by the benefit of acquisitions.
On October 30, 2015, Time Inc. entered into a definitive agreement to sell the Blue Fin Building, company's principal executive offices in the U.K., for 415 million British pounds (GBP). The sale is expected to be consummated in the fourth quarter of 2015.
Effective upon consummation of the sale of the Blue Fin Building, the board has authorized common stock repurchases of up to $300 million and principal debt repayments and/or repurchases of up to $200 million.
Time Inc. also announced that it would be acquiring the assets of Viant Technology, the company owns several digital ad technology and media companies including Specific Media, Vindico, MySpace and Xumo. ■