Time Out owner sells to Intermedia
The owners of Time Out Sydney have sold a majority stake in the company to Intermedia Group, the publisher of Inside Film and various other B2B titles.
Time Out’s Australian franchise is owned by Print and Digital Publishing. Time Out Sydney launched in 2007 as a weekly title, before moving to a fortnightly and then monthly frequency. However, during that time, traffic to the brand’s website has grown significantly to around 135,000 visitors per month.
Although PDP will probably move into Intermedia’s building, it will remain an independent company with the same team running Time Out including CEO Justin Etheridge and editor in chief Angus Fontaine. One reason for the deal is to help fund a push into other cities, with a soft launch of a Time Out Melbourne website this side of Christmas with a print product to follow. And the company is also launching a New Zealand product, starting with a guide to Wellington for Sydneysiders which hits the shelves shortly.
There is also potential for link-ups with other Intermedia Group titles. As well as the obvious synergies with Inside Film – which owns the IF Awards – Intermedia publishes National Liquor News and Bars & Clubs. Both companies run bar awards.
Etheridge said: “Our businesses complement each other perfectly – our ability to reach both consumers and trade decision-makers, in addition to our combined readership figures, provide a unique and very valuable proposition for advertisers.”
Time Out Sydney’s launch was a tough one, coming shortly before the advertising downturn began. And when it came to selling advertising, the title also met with stiff resistance from longer established rivals. Launch editor NiK Howe was poached by Fairfax to edit its Sport & Style supplement.
The move also marks as departure for Intermedia as its first full push into consumer publishing, although Inside Film already goes beyond a trade audience.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Those “longer established rivals” would be street press. Low quality, but the cover price of zero dollars zero cents is hard to beat.
Haven’t they been talking about the possiblity of a Melbourne edition since year dot?
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Oh dear. Let’s hope it isn’t dumbed down to the level of most of Intermedia’s other titles. I suspect there will be significant pressure on the editor to slash costs, reduce content and boost advertorial content. B2B publishing is very, very different to B2C publishing and Angus and Justin could face major conflicts over philosophical issues.
Time Out has been a wonderful product and a wonderful read since its launch – stick to your guns and don’t let yourselves be steamrolled, guys!
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“Longer established rivals”?? Who are they?? Can’t be Street Press. I love Time Out. I don’t think there is anything you can compare it with and I hardly think I’m going to look in The Brag for an unbiased restaurant review?? Strange comment. Keep going guys and agree with Andrew S, stick to your guns, Sydney needs you!!
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Hi Jason,
Thanks for your comment. Under rivals I’d include anybody who competes with them for advertising dollars or audience . Both News Ltd and Fairfax have a strong hold on cinema advertising, for instance.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
Time Out has been a godsend for those of us who have been left in the cold ever since Fairfax dropped the ball with its coverage of restaurants, bars, music and nightlife (and let’s not even talk about News’s embarrassing efforts in those arenas). Let’s hope they keep on keeping on.
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Jason, as Tim says, when we’re talking rivals here we’re talking rivals for ad dollars, not rivals for Jason Wattle’s attention.
The fact is street press ad rates are dirt cheap and you get a free story about your product to boot. One of the reasons it was great to see Time Out come into the market was because it broke that advertorial nexus, but obviously so far that hasn’t been enough to make it a lucrative proposition.
Would definitely be a shame to see it get more advertorial – and what would be its point of difference with the free sheets then?
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should of stayed over seas where it belongs…it has its place over their and great for tourists as far as whats on, where to go etc etc..but here in oz its just another rag to join the rest..
Good luck
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Some interesting comments.
2009 is a tough time for media sales but Time Out’s only going to get better from here with more resources to concentrate on what we do best whilst remaining editorially independent.
Now we also get to save $ on back-end services and printing by joining forces with a bigger group.
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Andrew S, I think you’re being very tough on Intermedia – most of their mags are very good niche business titles – I’ve done some work for them and none of the mags I’ve worked on have run advertorial.
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