All posts tagged: Hearst

Top 50 UK news media companies ranking for 2026

Top 50 UK news media companies ranking for 2026

Published by Sam Flores

Top four media companies in UK by revenue. RELX Group (picture: Igor Golovniov, Shutterstock), BBC (Chris Dorney, Shutterstock), Informa (Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images), ITV (Piotr Swat, Shutterstock). The top three news media companies in the UK by revenue saw turnover increase in their latest full-year accounts, Press Gazette’s latest top 50 ranking shows. Collectively the top 50 increased their revenue by £1.1bn compared with last year, representing a 3.1% increase reporting £37.5bn versus £36.3bn. Most of the top UK media companies (29 out of 50) grew their revenue in their most recent accounts, while 17 saw decline and four remained stagnant. RELX, the BBC and Informa topped the list with highest revenues, all posting more than £3.5bn. Most of the accounts (30) cover the 2024 financial year, a period which saw inflation average 2.5% while gross domestic product (GDP, a key measure of the economy) grew by 0.4%. Our ranking is based on the most recent full-year revenue reported by each business. Because not all companies break out their different revenue streams the …

Women’s interest magazine sales 2025: Harper’s Bazaar grows in print and digital

Women’s interest magazine sales 2025: Harper’s Bazaar grows in print and digital

Published by Sam Flores

Harper’s Bazaar magazine cover from February 2026. Picture: Hearst Harper’s Bazaar was the only women’s interest magazine to see an increase in both print and digital circulation figures in 2025, according to the latest ABC figures. The Hearst-owned title saw an increase of 9% for print (55,764 average copies per issue) and 8% for digital circulation (18,257 copies). Across the 53 titles within women’s interest magazines, which include the women’s weeklies, home interest, fashion and cookery from ABC, the average circulation declined by 0.8% compared to 2024 figures. Scroll down for full table listing UK women’s interest magazine sales in 2025. However, due to changes in ABC regulations, many publications boosted their totals by being allowed to count readers who receive both print and digital editions of publications twice in the overall circulation total (see 2024’s coverage of women’s interest magazines for comparison). This has meant a significant boost in digital figures for many magazines, including Harper’s Bazaar, and an overall digital circulation increase of 253.4% (versus 2024’s 17% increase). Digital circulations have also been …

Why UK mag giants have teamed up to offer digital advertising at scale

Why UK mag giants have teamed up to offer digital advertising at scale

Published by Sam Flores

Atria logo surrounded by its partnered titles including Good Food, Empire, Time Out Out and Men’s Health. Picture: PPA Six magazine publishers have jointly launched an advertising marketplace to provide brands with more scale for their campaigns. Bauer, Hearst UK, Immediate Media, Time Out, Hello and Future teamed up to launch Atria. The launch is designed to enable advertisers to deliver “premium” programmatic ads at scale across a portfolio of titles, rather than arranging multiple deals. Revenue will be allocated based on the impressions served on each individual site for each campaign. Cath Waller, managing director of advertising at Immediate and chair of PPA Magnetic which brought publishers together for the initiative, said Atria “should drive incremental advertising spend” by simplifying the planning and buying process. Brands on which advertisers can roll out campaigns include Time Out, Hello!, Elle, Grazia, Good Housekeeping, Empire, Radio Times, Cosmopolitan, Four Four Two, Esquire, Car, Cycling Weekend and BBC Top Gear. Atria’s partnered publishers have a combined monthly audience of 33 million or “48% of the UK’s online population”, …

Why conversational search can be ‘huge opportunity’ for publishers

Why conversational search can be ‘huge opportunity’ for publishers

Published by Sam Flores

Captify global data science and insights director Sam Coates speaking at IAB UK Techtonic panel on Wednesday 21 January 2026. Picture: Ben Stevens Photography/IAB UK Publishers have been told the era of conversational search can be a “huge opportunity” for them if they harness user intent data. The Express website is among the publisher brands that have added AI-powered search bars allowing users to ask questions and receive detailed answers instead of simple links to stories. Conversational search was discussed during a panel on the future of publisher models in an AI world, moderated by Press Gazette UK editor Charlotte Tobitt, at IAB UK’s Techtonic adtech event in London on Wednesday. Sam Coates, global director of insight and analytics at Captify, which uses search data to help publishers like The Independent and Future understand the intent of their audiences, told the panel there is a “flipside” to the “very negative” narrative about traffic declines. He explained that “the traffic that is coming through is likely to have stronger intent attached to it. So there’s opportunities …