Iliffe Media buying 164-year-old Newark Advertiser to add to Midlands newspaper portfolio

Iliffe Media has announced it is buying the 164-year-old Newark Advertiser to add to its portfolio of newspapers spanning the Midlands.

The Advertiser, which is owned by independent publisher the Advertiser Media Group, has provided news to the town of Newark, Nottinghamshire, since 1854.

It has become the latest acquisition by regional publisher Iliffe Media, which bought 13 titles from Johnston Press in January last year and took over the KM Media Group a few months later in April.

The deal includes the weekly Advertiser, and its associated website, as well as the free Newark Trader. It is expected to complete by 18 June, for an undisclosed amount.

Figures reported by the Independent Press Standards Organisation for 2016 revealed the Advertiser – published every Thursday – has a circulation of about 11,000 and an online audience of 84,000 unique monthly users.

The Trader is distributed to 16,000 homes every Tuesday.

Advertiser editor Chris Prime stepped down after ten years at the helm of the newspaper in March this year to work in local council PR.

Iliffe has said it intends to run the Advertiser as part of its Iliffe Media Midlands arm, along with its other titles: the Grantham Journal, Rutland and Stamford Mercury, Lincs Free Press, Spalding Guardian and Lynn News.

Iliffe Media Midlands managing director, Richard Parkinson, said: “The Newark Advertiser is a strong local newspaper, at the heart of its community.

“As well as being a great geographical fit with Iliffe Media’s Midlands titles, this is a really strong cultural fit. Like the Advertiser, Iliffe Media believes in putting the interests of its readers and advertisers first, with locally-based teams.”

Edward Iliffe, chief executive of Iliffe Media, said “At a time when trust in local media is soaring, Iliffe Media, with its long heritage as an independent, family-run media business, is committed to a long-term investment in local newspaper publishing, across all platforms.”

The deal was handled by Iliffe Media board member and media industry adviser David Fordham., who has worked on all of the group’s previous acquisitions.

Iliffe Media publishes the Cambridge Independent newspaper. It launched a new title, the Bishop’s Stortfood Independent, in October last year.

Topics in this article : Iliffe Media