Double-figure digital advertising growth at Mail Online helped offset print ad decline across the Mail titles, new quarterly figures show.
Ad revenues were up by an underlying nine per cent year-on-year for the quarter across the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and Mail Online.
A 17 per cent growth year-on-year in digital ad revenue at Mail Online offset a one per cent decline in print ad revenues, according to a trading update from Mail and Metro newspaper group DMGT.
Group chief executive Paul Zwillenberg told investors the online boost was “down to great content and great execution”.
“We have one of the best digital content teams in the business, generating 1,700 stories a day on average, tens of thousands of photos, and over 900 videos on average a day that we produce on the site.,” he said.
“It creates a winning formula.”
Mail Online reached 15.5m average global daily unique browsers, excluding Snapchat and Facebook video, during the 13-week period to the end of December last year.
This was “driven by increased indirect traffic via search and social platforms” DMGT said in its trading update.
The average daily total minutes spent on Mail Online during the quarter, excluding time spent viewing videos, was 129m, up four per cent on the same period last year.
Consumer media revenues grew by two per cent year-on-year at DMGT.
The results include one month’s trading for the i paper, which was acquired by the group for £50m in November last year.
The deal for the i is still being reviewed by the Competition and Markets Authority, meaning the paper is being operated and managed separately.
Circulation revenues at the Mail titles, including the i, fell by an underlying six per cent over the quarter. Last month the cover price for the Saturday edition of the Daily Mail went up 10p to £1.10.
DMGT chief executive Paul Zwillenberg said: “I am pleased that DMGT traded in line with our expectations during the first quarter, with solid performances from both our B2B and Consumer Media divisions.
“Consumer Media achieved underlying growth of two per cent, supported by a 17 per cent increase in our digital advertising revenues. Our outlook for the full year is unchanged.”
The group is forecast to achieve turnover of £1.3bn in 2020, with up to £110m in adjusted profit before tax for the year.
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