Publisher Meredith expects digital sales milestone

meredithMeredith Corporation expects digital ad sales to grow faster than print revenue declines for the first time next year, as it predicts that its online audience will reach 100m a month.

Steve Lacy, chief executive of the publisher of magazines including Better Homes and Gardens and Martha Stewart Living, told the Financial Times that the company will reach an “inflection point” in its 2017 fiscal year, which begins in July.

Digital revenues account for about a third of the $137m the company’s publishing arm made in advertising sales in its most recent quarter, up from 25 per cent last year. Print sales have been shrinking at about 4-6 per cent a year, a pace that Mr Lacy expects to continue.