Bron Maher
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reporter at A Media Operator, previously @pressgazette / @newsguardtech / demonstrating boomerangs at hamleys. check this intermittently
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Articles by Bron Maher
Apartment Therapy Laid Off ‘A Bunch of People’ In Bid For Restructure, Higher Margins
Apartment Therapy Media laid off “a bunch” of staff recently in a bid to grow its margins and “get closer to the work,” its founder and Chief Executive Officer Maxwell Ryan told AMO. Ryan declined to disclose the precise number of cuts, but suggested that they had affected teams with lower profit margins, including some of its sales staff. What is your type of business? Job Level Job Function Company Size Revenue Size
Future Still Gets Google Traffic. Now It’s Trying to Turn Visitors Into Customers.
Future still gets “a lot” of new users through Google Search. The question is increasingly what it can do with them once they arrive. The publicly listed publisher of more than 200 brands including TechRadar, Tom’s Guide, Marie Claire and The Week is trying to turn more of those fly-by visitors into people with an ongoing relationship with its brands through free membership, new measures of engagement and, eventually, paid products and experiences. What is your type of business?
CloserStill’s First Deal Since Its £1.3 Billion Recap Is a £12.8 Million Bolt-On
Recapitalized at £1.3 billion in May, CloserStill has made its first acquisition since: a trade show business generating £12.8 million in revenue, suggesting the events company isn’t rushing to spend its new capacity on big deals. Searchlight Capital invested in CloserStill earlier this year alongside existing owner Providence Equity Partners in a deal that valued the company at roughly £1.3 billion.
93% of FT Specialist Subscribers Don’t Buy the FT. ‘It Sounds Unforgivable’
The Financial Times Group publishes more than a dozen B2B titles under the FT Specialist brand—but 93% of subscribers to the specialist titles do not subscribe to the main FT. “It’s quite an enormous opportunity,” Matt Fottrell, the FT’s chief reader revenue officer and president in the U.S., said at the AMO Summit in New York this week. “And it sounds unforgivable! How did that happen?” What is your type of business? Job Level Job Function Company Size Revenue Size
Axel Springer to Restructure Telegraph as ‘Global, AI-Powered Media and Intelligence Business’
Axel Springer has begun a major restructure at its recently acquired British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, promising to turn it into a “global, AI-powered premium media and intelligence business.” In an email to staff seen by AMO, newly installed Chief Executive Officer Carolin Hulshoff Pol and editor-in-chief Chris Evans announced the business would be making redundancies as it shifted to build new revenue streams, grow internationally and “reinvent the reader experience.” What is your type...
Should Publishers Optimize For Fandom? (And If So… How?)
“I really believe the creator economy is bullshit,” said Industry Dive co-founder Sean Griffey. That’s not, he explained, because creators don’t make money. Instead, it’s because everyone hungrily eyeing them as the next evolution of media is forgetting their recent history. What is your type of business? Job Level Job Function Company Size Revenue Size
The FT’s B2B Acquisition Playbook: 10x Subscription Revenue, Be Wary of Data
The Financial Times Group’s specialist acquisition strategy focuses on subscription businesses serving competitive, ideally regulated and potentially international markets. It also wants businesses run by “entrepreneurial, smart people” that have already proven customers will pay for their content, according to Matt Fottrell, the FT’s chief reader revenue officer and president in the U.S., who spoke at the AMO Summit in New York last week. What is your type of business?
Clarion Revenue Jumps 22% as Asia Business Faces China Headwinds
Clarion Events saw revenue increase 22% year-on-year and 17% versus the prior biennial comparison, newly filed accounts show. They may be Clarion parent group’s last full-year filings as an independent business following Informa’s announcement last week that it would acquire the company in a deal valued at £2.24 billion. What is your type of business? Job Level Job Function Company Size Revenue Size
New York Times, Economist and Atlantic Join AI Licensing Coalition SPUR
AI licensing coalition SPUR has added several major publishers to its ranks, including The New York Times, The Economist, The Atlantic and French wire agency Agence France-Presse. In all SPUR, which stands for Standards for Publisher Usage Rights, welcomed more than 40 members on Tuesday, roughly doubling the total. What is your type of business? Job Level Job Function Company Size Revenue Size
Private Equity Transformed the Racing Post. A Decade Later, Growth Has Stalled
Private equity firm Exponent bought the publisher of the Racing Post a decade ago with a plan to transform and diversify what was still a heavily print business. It worked. Sort of. Today, parent company Spotlight Sports Group is predominantly digital, with a growing collection of B2B products and less than 20% of its revenue coming from the Racing Post itself. What it hasn’t done is grow much post-pandemic. What is your type of business? Job Level Job Function Company Size Revenue Size
AIN Media Group Acquires SherpaReport, a Guide to the World of Fractional Jet Ownership
Aviation media and data company AIN Media Group acquired SherpaReport, entering into the fast-growing world of shared private jet usage. While some ultra high net worth individuals may still be allured by the trophy value of owning their own plane, many are increasingly turning to options between forking out for a jet and slumming it flying commercial. What is your type of business? Job Level Job Function Company Size Revenue Size
Google Traffic Is Collapsing. So Why Aren’t Publishers’ Pageviews?
Google Search traffic to publishers plunged 40.2% between July 2025 and July 2026, while Google Discover traffic fell 34.3%. Yet publishers’ overall pageviews barely moved. What is your type of business? Job Level Job Function Company Size Revenue Size
Financial Times Bucks Trend With 9% Growth in Paying Print Readers
The Financial Times Group saw another strong year in 2025, capped off by growth in what these days makes for an unexpected area: print circulation. The number of paying digital readers and paying print readers each grew 9% year-on-year, accounts for The Financial Times Limited filed in the UK this week show. Those increases accompanied double-digit rises to digital advertising and events revenue. What is your type of business? Job Level Job Function Company Size Revenue Size
Google Could Be Forced to Offer AI Chatbots as Default Search Options
Google may be forced to let users choose third-party AI chatbots as their default search engine on Google Chrome and Android phones under new proposals by the UK’s competition regulator. For publishers, the stakes are significant: making AI assistants available as default search services on Chrome and Android could accelerate the shift of search queries away from Google and toward services that often answer users’ questions without requiring them to click through to the original source.
Hate in Hampstead
Alex Grant and his boyfriend were holding hands and walking home from the Highgate Men’s pond of a muggy July evening when a pair of men began to shout at them. The men – one tall, one short, equally bald – were slouched against some shop shutters. Neither Alex nor his boyfriend understood the language they were shouting in, but their hostility was apparent. The couple continued along past their abusers, trying to pay them no heed.
The New York Times Wants To Be The Top Video Brand For Cooking, Sports and Shopping Too
The New York Times Company is in the midst of a headlong dive into video—and its chief financial officer says its ambitions in the space go far beyond just news. The NYT has dramatically ramped up its video production this year, producing thousands of videos (and pushing up its costs in the process).
GlobalData Growth Target Falls Short as Earnings Disappoint
Information tech provider GlobalData has said it expects adjusted EBITDA to come in below market expectations this year, as its half-year results put it on course to fall far short of targets set in its three-year growth plan. GlobalData announced at the end of 2023 it was targeting £500 million annualized revenue by the end of 2026, as well as a 45% adjusted EBITDA margin, high-single to double-digit organic revenue growth and a greater than 90% volume renewal rate.
Guardian’s U.S and Canadian Paid Readers On Course to Surpass UK
Picture: piter2121 – stock.adobe.com The Guardian had 500,000 recurring digital supporters in the U.S. and Canada at the end of March, the publisher said in its annual review—a figure only a little behind the 550,000 it has in the UK. Guardian Media Group reported total revenue in the year to March 31st of £282 million, up 2% from a year earlier, while it saw a £17 million operating cash outflow. That was down from a £24 million outflow the year before. What is your type of business?
Top Guardian Columnist Marina Hyde to Leave Paper After 26 Years
Skip to content Guardian homepage screenshot One of The Guardian’s most popular columnists, Marina Hyde, is leaving after 26 years at the paper. The Guardian said no date had been set for Hyde’s final column. What is your type of business? Job Level Job Function Company Size Revenue Size
The Channel Company’s $100+ Million Playbook: Media, Events and 160 Staffers Working Inside Its Customers
Picture: peopleimages.com – stock.adobe.com You might not know “the channel,” the network of companies that help tech companies like Microsoft, Cisco and Dell sell their products to organizations. But it’s big business: The Channel Company, a B2B media, events and agency business built around that ecosystem, generates more than $100 million in annual revenue and employs 450 people.
Will Gen Z Ever Pay for News It’s Getting for Free Now?
Picture: Rawpixel.com – stock.adobe.com Emily Schario, the 31-year-old head of content and co-founder of The Boston Globe’s B-Side newsletter for Generation Z and young Millennials, is the target audience for her own product. As such, she has a flair for the breezy, influencer-like tone and type of news that tends to connect with young New England professionals.
Months After Launching Subscriptions, Reach plc Wants to Launch Bundles
One Canada Square, the London building containing the headquarters of UK publishing giant Reach. Picture: pit-fall / stock.adobe.com UK publishing giant Reach plc is working on a way to sell bundled subscriptions to its multiple brands, months after launching its first wave of paywalls. Long un-paywalled across its numerous news sites, Reach began rolling out paid digital subscriptions in November.
Digital Subscription Revenue Continues Rising at Telegraph as Advertising Struggles
Picture: Timon – stock.adobe.com The parent company of the UK’s Daily Telegraph newspaper notched continued digital subscription growth in 2025, its latest accounts show, while advertising failed to keep up. The filings are the first to be published since Axel Springer’s dramatic intervention finally ended the tumultuous three-year process to sell the news brand.
More AI Could Be Coming to Google Search Under Upcoming UK Regulations
Picture: Mistervlad – stock.adobe.com Trade associations in the UK have warned the country’s competition regulator that proposed rules for Google may harm publishers by injecting even more AI into search. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) proposed a variety of conduct requirements for Google earlier this year, some of which, like a rule letting publishers opt out of AI Overviews, have been cautiously hailed as wins for the industry.
Ziff Davis Weathers Revenue Decline As Connectivity Sale Gives It $1.6B Firepower
Picture: piter2121 – stock.adobe.com Ziff Davis’ revenue continued to wilt in the second quarter, but the sale of its Connectivity segment to Accenture for $1.2 billion earlier this year has left it with $1.6 billion of cash on the balance sheet. Total revenue across the company in the second quarter of 2026 was $286.7 million, down 2.7% year-on-year. Health and wellness, which accounts for 33% of all revenue—its largest segment—saw a drop of 4.8% year-on-year to $94.7 million.
USA Today EBITDA Falls 12% as it Touts Pivot From Scale, New Palantir Deal
Picture: chrisdorney – stock.adobe.com USA Today Co (formerly Gannett) announced a new deal with data tech company Palantir as it sought to reassure investors about a 12% year-on-year fall in adjusted EBITDA. Total revenue in Q2 2026 was down 8% from a year earlier (6.1% on a same-store basis), while digital advertising revenue fell 9.2% year-on-year to $79.8 million. Adjusted EBITDA was $56.9 million, down 11.6% year-on-year.
New York Times Shares Tumble As Video, Ad Costs Rise
Picture: blvdone – stock.adobe.com The New York Times’ stock fell 15% after the publication reported it overshot its guidance on operating costs and forecast weaker performance for the quarter. The business nonetheless beat guidance for digital advertising revenue growth and came in at the high end of its forecast for digital subscription revenue growth.
16 Months After Buying It, Easyfairs Brings Digital Accountancy Show to the U.S.
Picture: Easyfairs Easyfairs is taking its UK Digital Accountancy Show to the U.S. The Belgium-based organizer said it will debut the Digital Accountancy Show USA May 26-27, 2027, at the Palmer Events Center in Austin, Texas. The announcement comes about 16 months after Easyfairs acquired the brand from co-founders James Howell and Dan Cockerton.
Easyfairs Completes Acquisition of Belgium-Based Trade Show Organizer Xpo Group
Picture: Easyfairs Easyfairs completed its acquisition of Xpo Group, a Belgium-based B2B trade show organizer and the operator of a major Belgian event hall. Xpo Group says it has revenue of around €55 million and EBITDA of €11 million, with 151 employees and a portfolio of 61 trade fairs in 17 European countries. Its portfolio includes ARCHITECT@WORK, a trans-European network of shows for architects and specifiers, and renewable energy shows Solar Solutions.
The New York Times Wants the Wordle TV Show to ‘Re-Energize’ Lapsed Players
Picture: Tada Images – stock.adobe.com It’s coming up to Wordle’s fifth birthday, and the New York Times-owned game is still very popular: it was played 4.2 billion times in 2025, which averages out to 11.5 million plays per day. The pope is reportedly a fan. Inevitably, in that half-decade, some people will have stopped playing.
Can Publishers Create a ‘Major Line of Business’ Licensing Content to Risk-Averse Industries?
Stock.adobe.com Collective licensing of content for AI applications is already generating millions of pounds for publishers in the UK—and the country’s leading copyright licensing body believes it could become a major new revenue stream.
Doubling Revenue Through AI? The Arena Group’s Dream
Picture: Postmodern Studio – stock.adobe.com The Arena Group, whose titles include The Street, Men’s Journal and Parade, is accelerating AI adoption on all fronts as traffic declines have weighed on its recent financial results. Its first-quarter 2026 revenue results showed a 37% decline and a net loss of $2.7 million compared to a net income of $4 million the prior year.
Informa: Middle East Cancellations ‘Somewhere Between De Minimis and Zero’
Picture: Timon – stock.adobe.com Informa reported that the number of customers cancelling their plans to exhibit at its Middle East shows has been “somewhere between de minimis and zero.” Informa Chief Executive Officer Stephen Carter said at the company’s half-year earnings that actions taken by the company meant it could reiterate its full-year guidance of 6%+ underlying revenue growth. Carter did appear to indicate that profits grew less than they would have without the war in Iran.
Hot Off Its First Event Acquisition, Life Science Connect Acquires Another
The Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, California, where Precision Medicine World Conference is hosted. Picture: Marcus Jones – stock.adobe.com B2B publisher Life Science Connect (LSC) acquired Precision Medicine World Conference (PMWC) a month after it made its first events acquisition. LSC Chief Executive Officer Jon Howland described PMWC as the “Davos of Precision Medicine,” and said LSC would help it build a year-round-community atop its flagship annual event in Silicon Valley.
Reach’s Google Traffic Referrals Fell 55%; Paid Subscriptions on Track for Target
One Canada Square, the London building containing the headquarters of UK publishing giant Reach. Picture: pit-fall / stock.adobe.com Reach said its Google traffic in the first half of 2026 was down 55% from a year earlier, feeding into a 40% decline in the overall size of its on-platform audience. Reach’s share price fell 24% following the report.
Mark Allen Loves Print Magazines. Can He Make Them ‘High Tech, Sassy Sassy’?
The London offices of Mark Allen Group at St Jude’s Church. Picture: Bron Maher – A Media Operator The office of family-owned B2B media company Mark Allen Group is located in St Jude’s, a grand old neo-gothic stone church in leafy South London. Mark Allen, the company’s eponymous founder and executive chairman, told AMO he likes that the office choice sets MAG apart from other publishers.
UK Former Local Publisher Claverley in Acquisition Mode Amid Reinvention
Shrewsbury, England, where Claverley Group is based. Picture: Colin & Linda McKie – stock.adobe.com Claverley Group, until recently the publisher of the UK’s largest independent local news group, is in the middle of a reinvention, with a target of £10 million EBITDA and ambitions to make a major acquisition.
AP Becomes First US Member of AI News Licensing Coalition SPUR
Timon – Stock.adobe.com The Associated Press became the first U.S. publisher to join AI licensing standards organization The SPUR Coalition. The addition comes after the group, which aims to develop shared technical standards and licensing frameworks for publishers dealing with AI companies, published its first draft “Content Telemetry Standard” last month. The standard proposes a set of information AI companies would be expected to share each time they access publisher content.
Publishers ‘Would Bite YouTube’s Arm Off’ to Integrate it With Their Paywalls
Picture: charnsitr – stock.adobe.com YouTube made it clear last month: it is not, at this stage, working on integrating its platform with publisher paywalls. That’s unfortunate news for subscription publishers: one told AMO they would “bite YouTube’s arm off” for the capability.
BBC Expands Paywall Into Canada After Growth in US Subs, Traffic, Ad Revenue
BBC global headquarters in London. Picture: William – stock.adobe.com The BBC has expanded its paywall into Canada a year after launching its first ever paywall in the U.S. The UK public service broadcaster has seen above-target uptake of its U.S. subscription offer, ad revenue has risen and traffic has slightly increased, according to Tara Maitra, the president of commercial news at BBC Studios. “It’s made all boats rise,” she said.
What it Takes to Run a Successful Members Program
Picture: rawpixel.com – stock.adobe.com Around 48% of the events industry is either already operating or planning to launch a membership proposition within the next 12 months, according to data from advisory firm Collingwood. For organizers, memberships promise a way to extend customer relationships beyond a few days each year, generate recurring revenue, gather valuable first-party data and keep audiences engaged between events.
Easyfairs Takes Full Control of Nordic Live Expo
Picture: Easyfairs Easyfairs took full control of Scandinavian events organizer Nordic Live Expo, saying the acquisition would strengthen its position in the region. Nordic Live Expo runs events including Stockholm Tech Show, Oslo Tech Show, energy fair Energimassan and public sector decision maker conference Lösningar för Offentlig Sektor. Easyfairs was already a shareholder in the company.
LabX Media Group Buys Scientific American From Springer Nature, Seeks Unionization Halt
Picture: dennizn – stock.adobe.com Canadian science publisher LabX Media Group acquired Scientific American from Springer Nature, cut 15 roles and moved to halt a staff unionization bid that began in April. The sale of Scientific American, the oldest continuously published magazine in the U.S., was half of a two-part divestiture that also saw Springer Nature sell its only other consumer media brand, Spektrum der Wissenschaft, to German publisher GeraNova Bruckmann. Terms weren’t disclosed.
The Kitchn Launches Paid Print Membership After ‘Many Thousands’ Paid for Digital Quarterly
Pictures: Apartment Therapy Media Lifestyle publisher Apartment Therapy Media launched its first paid membership offering, hoping to entice the most engaged readers of cooking site The Kitchn with new exclusive features including the company’s first ever print product.
Life Science Connect Acquires Events Business to Bolster Capabilities
stock.adobe.com Life Science Connect acquired UK-based PharmaSource and CDMO Live, respectively a digital media company and events serving the biopharma outsourcing sector. Terms weren’t disclosed. Annual revenue for the two is about £1.5 million with a profit margin of about 40%. Life Science Connect publishes a network of B2B brands around drug development and manufacturing.
CEO Almar Latour on the ‘Stack’ That Will Power Dow Jones to $1B EBITDA
Julio Ricco – stock.adobe.com Dow Jones wants to boost EBITDA by 70% in five years to $1 billion. The strategy, Chief Executive Officer Almar Latour told AMO, is a “Dow Jones stack” comprising events, news, data and analytics. The tactic can already be seen in the energy and geopolitical risk verticals where the company made acquisitions to build out capacity—and where they’ve seen some of the strongest revenue growth across the company. The next stack it’s building is in the business of sports.
Even After Rescheduling 15+ Events in 2026, Informa Reconfirms Full-Year Guidance
Picture: Timon – stock.adobe.com Informa has reconfirmed its earlier full-year guidance for 2026, apparently shrugging off turbulence from the war in Iran amid hopes the conflict has reached its end. The business said “15+” brands had been rescheduled within 2026 and that “a number” of new event launches had been deferred into 2027.
UK Parliamentarian Introduces Bill To De-Anonymize AI Scrapers
Picture: Mistervlad – stock.adobe.com An opposition lawmaker in the UK has introduced a bill that would require AI web scrapers to identify themselves and their purpose when arriving on websites. The move follows similar efforts in the U.S.: New York’s state senate earlier this month passed a law forbidding so-called “stealth crawlers” from scraping news sites, although that law awaits approval from the governor.
UK B2B Tech Publisher The Stack Acquires U.S.-Based Runtime to Fuel American Expansion
Left: The homepages of The Stack and Runtime. Right: New The Stack editor Tom Krazit (Picture: The Stack) UK-based tech B2B publisher The Stack acquired U.S. enterprise tech newsletter Runtime in a deal as much aimed at hiring the outlet’s editor as at obtaining his audience.
Inside Contexte: a Profitable, €13 Million, Totally Ad-Free Subscription Publisher for Policy Professionals
The Palais Bourbon, seat of the French National Assembly in Paris. Picture: HJBC – stock.adobe.com Contexte, a high-priced French pure-play subscription publisher for European policy professionals, had its first profitable year excluding subsidies in 2025—turning a profit of €268,000 and EBITDA of €980,000 on revenue of €13 million. But, its CEO Jean-Christophe Boulanger emphasized to AMO, the strategy is to plug everything generated back in for more growth.
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