Guardian News & Media staff briefings :: While we will not release our full annual report until August, Guardian Media Group (GMG) CEO Andrew Miller and Editor-in-Chief Alan Rusbridger have been briefing staff about the progress of our digital first and open transformation to date. Rusbridger and Miller told staff that Guardian News & Media's (GNM's) digital first strategy was delivering, with digital revenue rising 16.3% to £45.7 million in the financial year ending 1 April 2012, largely offsetting the ongoing decline in print revenue for the first time.
In the briefing, Miller said: “Last year we explained how we would, over five years, transform GNM so that it not only survives the transition to digital but thrives on it. There is much work to be done but we are already seeing a significant surge in revenue from our investment in digital, helping GNM to maintain our revenues in a very tough market. Meanwhile, Guardian Media Group has grown its cash and investment fund and continues to be able to support the development of our journalism.”
Growth in digital revenue offset the ongoing decline in print revenue and enabled GNM to hold revenues broadly flat at £196.2 million (2011 £198.2million)
At the heart of the strategy is the Guardian’s unique open journalism and investment in digital audience and revenue growth, funded by a determination to cut our cost base to a level that, by the end of the five-year transformation programme announced in 2011, is sustainable in the long term.
Alan Rusbridger told staff: “Having the foresight to start exploring digital platforms as early as 1999 has given us a great foundation on which to build a secure future for the Guardian. This has been an extraordinary year for our journalism, all the more so for having the largest ever audience for our work.”
Source press release: Guardian News & Media
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