MailOnline reports near 60% quarterly revenue growth

The publisher of the Daily Mail has reported revenue growth of almost 60 per cent for its website Mail Online in the third quarter of the financial year.

According to the Daily Mail General Trust's Interim Management Statement, published this morning, the MailOnline's revenues grew by 59 per cent against the previous quarter, and enjoyed around 70 million unique visitors in June.

The Audit Bureau of Circulation reported last month that the MailOnline recorded a record of more than 77 million unique browsers in May. Its June figures are due to be reported on Thursday.

In total the revenues of Associated Newspapers' digital only businesses grew by 2 per cent, according to today's statement.

In contrast however overall revenues were down, with Associated Newspapers reporting a decrease of 6 per cent on an underlying basis.

The company is also continuing to reduce its headcount, with 8 per cent less staff than at the start of the financial year.

"The reduction was mainly at Northcliffe Media and the printing division, though investment in additional resource has been made at Mail Online and at the Jobs and Property digital businesses," the statement added.

Within Associated's newspaper operations alone underlying advertising revenues were down by 10 per cent in the quarter, with print down 12 per cent but boosted by digital which is up 51 per cent.

"Whilst the outlook remains uncertain and, as usual, visibility on future newspaper advertising performance is very limited, the July to September comparatives are less demanding for Associated and there are early signs of improvement in July trading with advertising revenues only per cent below last year after the first three weeks of the month," the statement added.

Northcliffe Media's total revenues for the quarter were also down by 10 per cent to £59 million, while headcount was reduced by 80 during the quarter.

This means the headcount is down by around 410 when compared to the start of the financial year.

Free daily newsletter

If you like our news and feature articles, you can sign up to receive our free daily (Mon-Fri) email newsletter (mobile friendly).