Telegraph reaches subscriber milestone as profits plummet

Telegraph Media Group, the company behind The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph,  telegraph.co.uk and a number of other apps and email products announced that it has more than 400,000 paying subscribers to its digital and print journalism.

The achievement comes after the company’s digital subscription growth increased dramatically during the first nine months of 2019. The move is driven by The Telegraph’s coverage of the Brexit issue and increased investment in journalism.

Additionally, the average revenue per user stands just above £200 above the company’s subscriber base.

The Telegraph says that it was able to increase revenues strongly without sacrificing on pricing.

This is a major element for the company as profits before tax plummeted 94 percent to £900,000. The owner blames this decline on structural changes, reports the Financial Times.

Still, increase in the company’s online subscription has failed to balance out on falling sales of newspapers and print advertising. “I have to completely transform an ad-funded business to a subscription business,” said Nick Hugh, the former Yahoo and BT executive who has led TMG since 2017.

However, Hugh said he expected profits to grow again in 2019, adding he believed the company would reach half a million subscribers by the end of 2020.

The struggles of TMG, points to the dire situation of the newspaper industry in which few titles have made a success of charging people to read online.

The group is owned by Barclay Brothers who are aiming for 1m print and digital subscribers and 10m registered digital users by 2023.