Shortlist Media doubles pre-tax losses but looks to digital revenue to shore up future

Shortlist Media, publisher of Shortlist and Stylist magazines, has doubled its pre-tax losses year-on-year to £8.6m in 2018.

The publisher, which has rebranded as the Stylist Group after putting the sword to Shortlist as a free print magazine last month, made revenues of £22.9m, up from £22.6m in 2017, over the year to the end of March 2018.

In its accounts, filed with Companies House yesterday, the group said it expected digital revenues to overtake those from print within three years and become the “main driver” for the business.

It said it is continuing to shift its main source of revenue from print display advertising to “multi-platform”.

The group employed 75 editorial staff in 2018, but has made a number of redundancies in line with Shortlist’s closure, although it has refused to tell Press Gazette how many staff were affected.

Shortlist Media’s highest-paid director was given a pay rise to £1.2m in 2018, up from £1m in 2017, despite its losses.

The group is a subsidiary of Scottish publisher DC Thomson, which bought it in 2015. Shortlist also publishes daily email newsletters My Hyde, for men, and Emerald Street, for women.

Read Shortlist Media’s full 2018 accounts.

Shortlist staff told Press Gazette of their shock at the title’s closure last month after 11 years and 552 issues.