The top 50 biggest news media companies in the English-speaking world are today revealed in an exclusive ranking, based on relevant revenue, compiled by Press Gazette.
Ten years ago, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation was the biggest news media company in the English-speaking world – and it was about to become even bigger with the planned acquisition of broadcast giant BSkyB.
“The Fox News Channel is simply unstoppable,” Murdoch wrote in the company’s 2010 annual report, which reported revenues of $32.8bn, up 8% on the previous year. “The Sun delivered its highest year ever in advertising revenues in 2010… The Wall Street Journal was the only major US title to grow in circulation.”
“Far from killing us off,” he said of technological advancements at the time, “I see the great disruptions we are now going through as the prelude to a new golden era for companies like News Corporation.”
Today, the biggest three news and information companies in the world are Google-owner Alphabet, Facebook and Apple, according to an in-depth analysis by Press Gazette.
Our News 50 list reveals that the renamed and shrunk-down News Corp has fallen to become the English-speaking world’s 17th largest news media company, with annual revenues of $9bn. Fox Corporation, the assets of which were part of the old News Corporation and which retains Murdoch as its largest shareholder, is 12th with an annual turnover of $12.3bn.
How Silicon Valley took control of the news agenda
In 2010, News Corporation was bigger than Google, which reported an annual turnover of $29bn. Facebook, meanwhile, was pulling in less than $2bn annually.
Many journalists at the time would have regarded Google, which now also owns Youtube, and Facebook merely as useful tools for both newsgathering and distribution. Few would have considered them to be competitors in the business of news.
Today, Google (renamed Alphabet at a corporate level) and Facebook are together known as the Duopoly. Their dominance of the digital advertising market makes them the two biggest media (and news) businesses in the world by some margin.
Alphabet‘s $150bn advertising revenues are more than 15 times greater than the $9bn total turnover of Murdoch’s News Corp.
Coming in behind Facebook, which reported ad revenues of $69.7bn last year, is fellow tech giant Apple.
The iPhone maker’s news and media offerings are in a relatively nascent stage of development. Despite having tens of millions of subscribers, Apple TV Plus is said still to be bringing in “immaterial” amounts of revenue. And Apple News Plus, a paid-for version of Apple News, was only introduced last year.
But we have ranked Apple third in the list because of the $53.8bn of revenues from its services business. The tech giant’s fast-growing services business includes revenues from its app store, music, arcade, pay and the iCloud, as well as Apple TV and Apple News.
Not all of these revenues will directly relate to news or information, but Apple qualifies for this list because its services compete directly for the attention and subscription money of would-be news consumers.
With this approach in mind, Amazon – which operates Prime Video, Kindle and Audible – also makes the top ten for its services offering, as does Netflix, which produces much documentary content in addition to its dramatic content.
Comcast and ViacomCBS – whose media revenues are separated from larger parts of their businesses – also make the top ten along with entertainment giant Walt Disney.
Microsoft, which owns MSN and Linkedin, is in the top ten, while ByteDance – the owner of Chinese social media app TikTok – is the highest-ranking non-American company at number nine.
Decline of news-focused businesses
None of the companies that make up out top ten would describe themselves as news companies – with their focus on social media, tech, entertainment or telecoms.
The biggest news-focused companies are Hearst (12th) and News Corp (15th). Gannett, the struggling US local newspaper publisher that owns Newsquest in the UK, is in 25th, while the UK’s largest regional publisher, Reach, does not make the top 50.
Relx, the information giant formerly known as Reed Elsevier, is the largest British company in 15th place.
New competition for financial media
While consumer-facing media has been coming under pressure from large tech companies, financial news outlets such as Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters are facing a relatively new form of competition.
Intercontinental Exchange, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, and the London Stock Exchange have both been building up large information businesses that compete with financial media to provide investors with important data.
The latter just falls short of our top 50 list, but will significantly grow its information revenues this year due to its purchase of Refinitiv from Thomson Reuters.
READ MORE: Press Gazette’s latest interviews with news leaders
The News 50: The world’s biggest news media companies
Scroll down to see our full list of the top 50 news media companies in the world (with an at-a-glance table at the end). Note: If you think there are any extra companies that should be on this list, or if you feel it can be improved in any other way, please email let us know by emailing william.turvill@pressgazette.co.uk.
Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai. Photo credit: Reuters
1. Alphabet 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: Google, Google News, Youtube
Total revenues: $161.9bn
News/information/media revenues: $150bn
Source: Full-year 2019 results
The 2010 version of Google was a minnow in comparison to the Alphabet of 2020. With an annual revenue just short of $30bn ten years ago, CNN named it as the world’s 325th largest company – far behind the likes of Woolworths, Best Buy, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Walmart.
Google – whose holding company was renamed Alphabet in 2015 – also trailed News Corporation back in 2010. At the time, few would have guessed that within ten years, Google and Youtube’s parent company would be more than 15 times larger than the empire Rupert Murdoch built up over decades.
As tools used by billions of people to access news and information, Google and Youtube can be hugely influential. Mail Online recently complained that its visibility on Google News searches was being cut, while Youtube – which claims to have two billion active monthly users – has faced claims that its algorithms have promoted misinformation.
News/information/media revenue workings: Counted all advertising revenue.
2. Facebook 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp
Total revenues: $70.7bn
News/ information/ media revenues: $69.7bn
Source: Full-year 2019 results
Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. Photo credit: Reuters/Stephen Lam
In 2010, Facebook was a social media network popular among students and other young people. Today, the company’s platforms – which now include Instagram and Whatsapp – are estimated to be used by around 3bn people. They are also a significant source of news and information for many.
Together, Facebook and Google are known as the Duopoly because of their dominance of the online advertising market. There is a widely held belief in the news industry that both companies benefit hugely from journalism content without contributing enough funding to the industry.
News/information/media revenue workings: Counted all advertising revenue.
3. Apple 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: Apple News, Apple News+, Apple TV, Apple One
Total revenues: $260.2bn
News/information/media revenues: $53.8bn
Source: Full-year results to September 2020
Apple’s annual revenues of $260bn dwarf those of Facebook and even Google. But the firm’s impact on journalism industry revenues is currently seen as less significant. Apple remains a technology company whose products are seen as useful tools for the news business, both in terms of newsgathering and news consumption.
But Apple’s harmonious relationship with the news sector could soon be threatened. The New York Times recently pulled out of Apple News, preferring to try to build “direct relationships” with readers. Mail Online has threatened to kill off its own iPhone app over Apple’s plans to enhance user privacy rules.
News/information/media revenue workings: Counted Apple’s services revenues, which include sales from digital content stores, streaming services, Applecare and licensing, as well as Apple News and Apple TV.
4. Walt Disney 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: ESPN, National Geographic, ABC, Viceland (large shareholder)
Total revenues: $65.4bn
News/information/media revenues: $28.4bn
Source: Full-year results to September 2020
Like Comcast, Walt Disney is not best known for its news business. But its media networks division – which includes news brands such as ESPN and ABC, as well as the Disney Channel, National Geographic and a 50% stake in Viceland co-owner A&E – reported revenues of $24.8bn last year.
News/information/media revenue workings: Media Networks revenue
5. Comcast 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: CNBC, MSNBC, NBC, Sky
Total revenues: $108.9bn
News/information/media revenues: $25.5bn
Source: Full-year 2019 results
Sky News presenter Kay Burley. Photo credit: Sky News / Youtube
Founded as a single-system cable operator in Mississippi in 1963, Comcast has grown to become one of the largest companies in the world. More than half of its turnover comes from its ‘cable communications’ division – which provides internet, video, voice and internet services to US households under the Xfinity brand – but news and media is an increasingly large part of its business. The company took control of NBCUniversal in 2013 and won a bidding war for UK telecoms and media firm Sky in 2018.
News/information/media revenue workings: Added together income from NBC cable networks, NBC broadcast TV and Sky advertising.
6. ViacomCBS 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: CBS, Channel 5, MTV
Total revenues: $27.8bn
News/information/media revenues: $24.4bn
Source: Full-year 2019 results
Formed by the merger of Viacom and CBS Corporation in 2019, the company now owns media brands across the world, including the various CBS networks, Channel 5 in the UK and MTV.
News/information/media revenue workings: Added TV entertainment and cable networks turnover, not filmed entertainment or publishing.
7. Netflix 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: Netflix
Total revenues: $20.2bn
News/information/media revenues: $20.2bn
Source: Full-year 2019 results
Netflix is better known as an entertainment brand rather than a news rival to the likes of CNN. But the streaming company is listed here not just because of its popular documentaries – including Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich, Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened and Tiger King – but also because with nearly 200m paid memberships, it is a major competitor to news companies seeking to increase their subscription numbers.
8. Amazon 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: Amazon Prime Video, Kindle, Audible, Twitch
Total revenues: $280.5bn
News/information/media revenues: $19.2bn
Source: Full-year 2019 results
Like Netflix, Amazon – founded by the world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos, who also owns the Washington Post – is a major competitor to news businesses seeking to persuade consumers to read and pay for their products.
News/information/media revenue workings: Added quarterly revenues from Amazon’s subscription services, which includes sales of audiobooks, music, video and ebooks.
9. ByteDance 🇨🇳
Top news/information brands: TikTok
Total revenues: $16bn
News/information/media revenues: $16bn
Source: Reuters
Video-sharing app TikTok, which has reportedly been downloaded two billion times across the world, is one of the biggest new social media kids on the block. Its revenues hit $16bn last year, according to Reuters, which also reports that its turnover could rise to $27bn in 2020. This would propel it into the top five of this list.
10. Microsoft 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: MSN, LinkedIn, Bing
Total revenues: $143bn
News/information/media revenues: $15.8bn
Source: Full-year results to June 2020
MSN.com, which brings together content from various sources, is one of the most visited news websites in the world. Professional social media site LinkedIn, acquired by Microsoft in 2016, is also a growing source of news and information. In its 2020 annual report, Microsoft revealed the platform had more than 700m members.
News/information/media revenue workings: Added together search advertising sales and LinkedIn income.
11. AT&T 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: CNN, Bleacher Report
Total revenues: $181.2bn
News/information/media revenues: $13.1bn
Source: Full-year 2019 results
Another telecoms-first business, more than $140bn of AT&T’s revenue last year came from its communications division, which provides customers with internet, video and phone services. The company took control of CNN (above), one of the biggest news brands in the world, in 2018 as it completed its deal for Time Warner.
News/information/media revenue workings: Added revenues from Turner, a division of WarnerMedia that includes CNN, Bleacher Report, as well as brands like Adult Swim, Boomerang and Cartoon Network.
12. Fox Corporation 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: Fox News, Fox Business, Fox Television Stations
Total revenues: $12.3bn
News/information/media revenues: $12.3bn
Source: Full-year results to June 2020
Fox Corporation, whose largest shareholder is the Murdoch family, was formed last year when Walt Disney completed its acquisition of all other parts of 21st Century Fox. Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox was itself formed in 2013 when the old News Corporation was broken up.
13. Hearst Communications 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Men’s Health, Esquire, Fitch
Total revenues: $11.4bn
News/information/media revenues: $11.4bn
Source: Annual letter from president/CEO Steven R Swartz (for 2018 – figure not stated in 2019)
While other long-standing traditional media brands have shrunk away in recent years, Hearst has grown significantly in the past ten years. Its reported revenues have grown from $3.8bn in 2010 to $11.4bn in 2018 thanks to various large acquisitions in the past decade.
14. Discovery Inc. 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: Discovery Channel, Eurosport, Group Nine titles including NowThis News, the Dodo and PopSugar
Total revenues: $11.1bn
News/information/media revenues: $11.1bn
Source: Full-year 2019 results
Founded in 1985, the company formerly known as Discovery Communications has grown its revenues from around $4bn to $11bn in the past ten years thanks to a series of acquisitions. The company is best known for its non-news content.
15. Relx 🇬🇧
Top news/information brands: LexisNexis, ScienceDirect, Estates Gazette
Total revenues: $10.4bn (£7.9bn)
News/information/media revenues: $10.4bn (£7.9bn)
Source: Full-year 2019 results
Formerly known as Reed Elsevier, Relx has transformed itself from a company best known for its news B2B and specialist publications – including Farmers Weekly and the New Scientist – into an information powerhouse. Relx publishing division Reed Business Information sold the New Scientist in 2017 and announced the disposal of Farmers Weekly in December last year.
16. Bloomberg 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: Bloomberg, Bloomberg Media, Quicktake
Total revenues: $10bn
News/information/media revenues: $10bn
Source: Industry estimate for 2018
Renowned internationally as a quick and reliable source of financial news and information, Bloomberg is reported to have reached revenues of $10bn in 2018. As well as having a vast consumer-facing news operation, the company – founded by former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg in 1981 – provides important financial data to companies across the world. In a recent Press Gazette interview, Bloomberg Media chief executive Justin B Smith revealed that his company now has 250,000 subscribers to its news website. It also recently launched a new 24/7 streaming channel called Quicktake.
Rupert Murdoch. Photo credit: Picture: Newscorp/Taint/ Reuters/Luke Macgregor/Files
17. News Corp 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones, The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun, New York Post, Barron’s, The Australian
Total revenues: $9bn
News/information/media revenues: $9bn
Source: Full-year results to June 2020
News Corp is a fraction of the size of its predecessor company, News Corporation, which reported total revenues of more than $32bn in 2010. The old company was broken up into News Corp and 21st Century Fox in 2013. The modern-day News Corp is dwarfed by tech giants like Google and Facebook, but it still owns some of the biggest news brands in the world.
18. Spotify 🇸🇪
Top news/information brands: Spotify, Anchor, Gimlet, Megaphone
Total revenues: $8bn (€6.8bn)
News/information/media revenues: $8bn (€6.8bn)
Source: Full-year 2019 results
Like Netflix and Amazon, Spotify makes this list because its successful subscription model provides direct competition to publishers seeking to sell their products. It also hosts all major news podcasts, and also owns podcasting networks Anchor and Gimlet.
HuffPo is now owned by Verizon. Photo credit: Adam Fradgley / Exposure Photography
19. Verizon 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: Yahoo, Techcrunch, In The Know, Huffpost, Buzzfeed
Total revenues: $131.9bn
News/information/media revenues: $7.5bn
Source: Full-year 2019 results and quarterly reports for media revenue
Ten years ago, telecommunications giant Verizon would unlikely have been on this list. Today, following the 2015 acquisition of HuffPo and Techcrunch owner AOL and the 2017 acquisition of Yahoo, it makes the top 20. In November, it agreed to sell Huffpost to Buzzfeed, but Verizon took a stake in the combined digital group as part of the deal. According to SimilarWeb figures, Yahoo has the most visited news website in the world.
News/information/media revenue workings: Added together Verizon Media revenues.
20. S&P Global 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: S&P, Platts
Total revenues: $6.7bn
News/information/media revenues: $6.7bn
Source: Full-year 2019 results
S&P Global is another large company that would not be first described as a news business. But as an information provider, it is a major competitor to the traditional journalism industry, especially the financial media.
21. Nielsen 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: Nielsen
Total revenues: $6.5bn
News/information/media revenues: $6.5bn
Source: Full-year 2019 results
Nielsen provides consumer data and information on markets, including the retail and media sectors, to professionals, including journalists, across the world.
22. BBC 🇬🇧
Top news/information brands: BBC News, BBC Worldwide, regional channels across the UK, various other big-name shows
Total revenues: $6.5bn (£4.9bn)
News/information/media revenues: $6.5bn (£4.9bn)
Source: Annual report 2019/20
Owned by the British government, the BBC is the top publicly-owned entrant on this list. The majority of its income is from the licence fee paid by the British public, though it does also make commercial revenues from its international operation.
23. Thomson Reuters 🇨🇦
Top news/information brands: Reuters
Total revenues: $5.9bn
News/information/media revenues: $5.9bn
Source: Full-year 2019 results
Thomson Reuters is best known among journalists for the global news and financial coverage of consumer-facing Reuters. But, like Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters is also a B2B giant, providing legal professionals, corporate customers, tax and accounting professionals and others with important business information. Thomson Reuters’ revenue is down from around $13bn in 2010, largely due to the sale of its financial information business Refinitiv to the London Stock Exchange.
Good Morning Britain with Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid. Photo credit: ITV
24. ITV 🇬🇧
Top news/information brands: ITV, Good Morning Britain. Has a 40% stake in ITN, the company behind ITV News and Channel 4 News
Total revenues: $5.1bn (£3.9bn)
News/information/media revenues: $5.1bn (£3.9bn)
Source: Full-year 2019 results
ITV is best known for its entertainment programming, including I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here and Coronation Street, but it also has some of the most popular and trusted news brands in the UK. It owns a 40% stake in ITN, which makes ITV News and Channel 4 News.
25. Gannett 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: USA Today, Newsquest titles in the UK, hundreds of local newspapers across the US
Total revenues: $4.2bn
News/information/media revenues: $4.2bn
Source: Full-year 2019 results
Revenues at Gannett, a regional news giant with major operations in the US and UK through Newsquest, have been shrinking fast in recent years. The company’s actual revenues were $1.8bn last year, down from more than $5bn in 2010, but the figure grows to above $4bn when accounting for a merger between Gannett and GateHouse Media.
26. Sinclair Broadcast Group 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: Various local TV and sports TV channels in US
Total revenues: $4.2bn
News/ information/ media revenues: $4bn
Source: Full-year 2019 results
Sinclair Broadcasting Group owns and operates 191 television stations and 607 channels across 89 US markets.
27. Informa 🇬🇧
Top news/information brands: Lloyd’s List, CRC Press, Informa Markets
Total revenues: $3.8bn (£2.9bn)
News/information/media revenues: $3.8bn (£2.9bn)
Source: Full-year 2019 results
Like Relx, Informa is a British company that has transformed itself from a publisher into a large information and events business.
28. iHeartMedia 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: Various radio stations across the US
Total revenues: $3.7bn
News/information/media revenues: $3.7bn
Source: Full-year 2019 results
iHeartMedia, formerly known as CC Media Holdings, owns and operates more than 850 radio stations across the United States. It also has a growing digital presence.
29. Axel Springer 🇩🇪
Top news/information brands: Business Insider, Insider Inc, Insider Intelligence, eMarketer, Politico Europe (joint venture)
Total revenues: $3.7bn (€3.1bn)
News/information/media revenues: $3.7bn (€3.1bn)
Source: Full-year 2019 results
The owner of Bild Group in Germany, Axel Springer has grown its presence in the English language media world in recent years with investments in Insider Inc, which recently merged with eMarketer, and Politico Europe, which is a joint venture with Politico in the US.
The Financial Times was bought by Japan’s Nikkei in 2015. Photo credit: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton
30. Nikkei 🇯🇵
Top news/information brands: Financial Times, Medley Global Advisors, FT Specialist
Total revenues: $3.4bn (¥357bn)
News/information/media revenues: $3.4bn (¥357bn)
Source: Reported 2019 sales results
Nikkei entered the English language media market in 2015 with the £844m acquisition of the Financial Times. The bulk of its income will still come from its Japanese media outlets. Companies House accounts for the Financial Times shows it made £323.6m ($409.3m) in revenues in 2018.
31. Hubert Burda Media 🇩🇪
Top news/information brands: BBC Good Food magazine, Match of the Day magazine, Radio Times, Top Gear magazine
Total revenues: $3.3bn (€2.8bn)
News/information/media revenues: $3.3bn (€2.8bn)
Source: Full-year 2019 results
Another German media company, Hubert Burda gained a large presence in the UK magazine market after buying Immediate Media in 2017.
32. Nexstar Media Group 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: Various local TV stations across the US
Total revenues: $3bn
News/information/media revenues: $3bn
Source: Full-year 2019 results
Headquartered in Irving, Texas, Nexstar owns, operates programmes and provides sales and other services to 196 television stations, reaching 114 markets across the US.
Twitter. Photo credit: Reuters/Kacper Pempel/Illustration
33. Twitter 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: Twitter
Total revenues: $3.5bn
News/information/media revenues: $3bn
Source: Full-year 2019 results
A popular source and outlet for breaking news for journalists, Twitter lags some way behind big rivals such as Facebook in revenue stakes.
News/information/media revenue workings: Added advertising sales only.
34. Meredith Corporation 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: People, Health, 17 local TV stations
Total revenues: $2.8bn
News/information/media revenues: $2.8bn
Source: Full-year results to June 2020
Meredith’s revenues increased from $1.7bn to $2.8bn between 2017 and 2020, largely thanks to its acquisition of publisher Time Inc (although Time magazine was later sold on). It now claims to reach 180m American consumers through its various brands.
35. Bauer Media Group 🇩🇪
Top news/information brands: Grazia, Empire, Cosmopolitan, various radio stations
Total revenues: $2.7bn (€2.3bn)
News/information/media revenues: $2.7bn (€2.3bn)
Source: Bauer reported results for 2018 (2019 figures not disclosed)
One of the biggest magazine companies in the world, Bauer Media Group has large operations across the UK, US and Australia – with hundreds of publications, websites and broadcasting brands. Bauer is a private company and has a complicated structure, so the €2.24bn ($2.6bn) 2018 revenue figure quoted – reported separately by Germany’s Die Wirtschaftnews and Mediendatenbank – could have changed significantly. Bauer has announced several closures and sales in the UK and Australia this year.
36. Bell Canada 🇨🇦
Top news/information brands: CTV, BNN Bloomberg, 30 local TV stations, 109 radio stations
Total revenues: $18.3bn (CAD$24bn)
News/information/media revenues: $2.5bn (CAD$3.2bn)
Source: Full-year 2019 results
Primarily a telecommunications business, Bell Canada’s media division – Bell Media – has owned 100% of Canadian media giant CTV for nearly a decade.
37. Tegna 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: Justice Network, Quest, various local TV stations across the US
Total revenues: $2.3bn
News/information/media revenues: $2.3bn
Chief executive: Dave Lougee
Tegna runs 62 TV stations across the US and claims to reach 50m adults via its digital platforms. It was in talks to be bought by rival Gray Television and private equity firm Apollo earlier this year, according to Reuters, but the takeover talks collapsed amid the Covid-19 crisis.
38. InterContinental Exchange 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: ICE Data Services
Total revenues: $6.5bn
News/information/media revenues: $2.2bn
Source: Full-year 2019 results
The owner of the New York Stock Exchange, ICE is a new and unconventional rival to the media business whose inclusion in this list will raise some eyebrows. ICE Data Services is a major supplier of financial market data, and so in this sense a rival to large financial media companies like Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters. ICE’s information business grew significantly – from less than $300m to $2.2bn – between 2010 and 2019.
39. Gray Television 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: Gray Washington News Bureau, InVestigateTV, Raycom Sports, RTM Studios, various local TV stations
Total revenues: $2.1bn
News/information/media revenues: $2.1bn
Source: Full-year 2019 results
As well as owning local TV stations across the US, Gray operates production companies including InVestigateTV and Gray Washington News Bureau. It was reported to be in talks to buy rival Tegna earlier this year.
Magazines published by Hearst UK and Condé Nast
40. Advance Publications 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: Conde Nast (Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair, Wired, The New Yorker), stake in Reddit, several local news groups through Advance Local
Total revenues: $2bn
News/information/media revenues: $2bn
Source: Forbes estimate for 2018
Founded in 1922 by Sam Newhouse, the owner of Conde Nast remains a private business. Forbes estimates that its revenues in 2018 were $2bn.
Despite circulation struggles, The New York Times has been enjoying success in building its subscription base
41. The New York Times Company 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: The New York Times, other NYT brands
Total revenues: $1.8bn
News/information/media revenues: $1.8bn
Source: Full-year 2019 results
Like other newspaper companies, The New York Times has struggled to contend with falling print advertising revenues and print circulations in recent years. It has, though, been enjoying success in building its subscription base.
42. Snap 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: Snapchat, Discover
Total revenues: $1.7bn
News/information/media revenues: $1.7bn
Source: Full-year 2019 results
Popular among teenagers and young adults, Snapchat tries to differentiate itself from other big social media firms by vetting content on its Discover channel to ensure fake news is less of an issue.
Unlike many social media platforms, Snapchat is striving to reduce the amount of fake news that’s delivered
43. DMGT 🇬🇧
Top news/information brands: Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Mail Online, the i, Metro
Total revenues: $1.6bn (£1.2bn)
News/information/media revenues: $1.6bn (£1.2bn)
Source: Full-year results to September 2020
DMGT, founded by the Harmsworths in 1896, remains best known for its consumer brands in the UK, most notably the Daily Mail and its sister website, Mail Online. But unlike many other large newspaper companies in the UK, DMGT also has a large B2B business and holds investments in a diverse range of other businesses.
44. Nine 🇦🇺
Top news/information brands: Sydney Morning Herald, The Sun-Herald, Brisbane Times, Lifehacker, Gizmodo (Australia), the Australian Financial Review, Business Insider (Australia), 9News
Total revenues: $1.6bn (AUD$2.2bn)
News/information/media revenues: $1.6bn (AUD$2.2bn)
Source: Full-year results to June 2020
TV giant Nine Entertainment Co completed its merger with newspaper publisher Fairfax Media in 2019. Together, the company is known as Nine.
45. Rogers Communications 🇨🇦
Top news/information brands: CityTV, local TV stations, sports channels
Total revenues: $11.5bn (CAD$15.1bn)
News/information/media revenues: $1.6bn (CAD$2.1bn)
Source: Full-year 2019 results
As well as owning Major League Baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays, Rogers’ media division runs CityTV and several local news and sports channels across Canada.
46. Cox Media Group 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: TV and radio stations across US
Total revenues: $1.5bn
News/information/media revenues: $1.5bn
Source: LinkedIn profile for Cox Media Group
Cox Enterprises, a communications and automotive services business which turns over more than $20bn a year, sold Cox Media Group to private equity firm Apollo at the end of last year. There is little public information about the size of Cox Media Group, but a LinkedIn profile of the company suggests its annual turnover is around $1.5bn. Dun & Bradstreet estimates a turnover of $2.6bn.
47. E.W. Scripps Company 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: Dozens of local TV stations across the US
Total revenues: $1.4bn
News/information/media revenues: $1.4bn
Source: Full-year 2019 results
Cincinnati-based E.W. Scripps is another large US local broadcasting company. It has shrunk down in some areas this year, exiting the New York City market and selling its podcast business. But it has also bought ION Media, which last year generated revenues of nearly $600m.
48. CBC/Radio Canada 🇨🇦
Top news/information brands: CBC News, CBC.ca, CBC Sports, Radio-Canada
Total revenues: $1.3bn (CAD$1.7bn)
News/information/media revenues: $1.3bn (CAD$1.7bn)
Source: Full-year 2019/20 results
Canada’s equivalent of the BBC, the bulk of CBC/Radio Canada’s income is from government funding.
49. Moody’s 🇺🇸
Top news/information brands: Moody’s Investors Service, Moody’s Analytics
Total revenues: $4.8bn
News/information/media revenues: $1.3bn
Source: Full-year 2019 results
Moody’s is best known for its credit rating reports. It generated $1.3bn in revenues from research, data and analytics last year.
News/information/media revenue workings: Added research, data and analytics revenues.
50. Corus Entertainment 🇨🇦
Top news/information brands: Global News, various Canadian radio stations, BBC Canada, Curiouscast
Total revenues: $1.2bn (CAD$1.5bn)
News/information/media revenues: $1.2bn (CAD$1.5bn)
Source: Full-year results to August 2020
As its name suggests, Corus is well known in Canada for its entertainment programming. But it also owns some of the most significant news brands in the country.
Note on overall workings: Annual revenue figures are the latest available – usually 2019, but sometimes running into 2020, and in some cases 2018. News/information/media revenue figures are explained where necessary. For large companies where news/information is a small part of their business, we break down their total turnover as much as possible to give an idea of their relevant revenues.
Main picture credit: Shutterstock
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