Sun not setting yet: Tabloid sees progress in digital shift
The Sun shrunk losses last year to just £2m before legal charges, with the tabloid stalwart seeming to find momentum in its ongoing shift towards digital.
Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers (NGN), which publishes The Sun, lost £51m in total last year but £49m of that relates to legal provisions for cases related to the long-defunct News of the World newspaper.
Turnover for the paper fell from £324m to £318.6m in the past year as the pandemic continued to play havoc with advertising revenues.
“The decrease in turnover was primarily due to adverse print market conditions exacerbated by the pandemic, particularly in Monday to Friday sales, though performance has continued to improve since the first lockdown and throughout the financial year,” the company said, in its filing to Companies House.
It pointed to the decline in both newspaper circulation and print ad revenues as the main culprit for this online shift.
An email to staff from editor Victoria Newton, seen by the Guido Fawkes blog, hailed a “brilliant” year which included a rapid expansion of the brand’s operation in the United States.
Newton noted EBITDA had grown to £13m in the past year.
The fourth quarter was also the first time digital advertising income had beaten print advertising for the Sun, arguably marking a significant moment for the paper and its future.
Meanwhile, the Times and Sunday Times reported record profits over the same financial period, benefiting from a digital revenue boost.
Parent group Times Newspapers said pre-tax profits more than tripled from £10m to £34m year-on-year.