Time Magazine made $73m in digital ad sales revenue during the first quarter of 2015, marking 20% of its total revenue.
The publisher of People, Sports Illustrated and its namesake title saw print-ad revenue, still its dominant income source, fall 12% year-over-year.
These digital numbers are important measures of Time’s effort to transform from a print publisher to a media company with digital at its core.
The increase would be 20% if you exclude digital ad sales in the first quarter of 2014 from CNNMoney.com, which until last June was home to the digital content for Time’s Fortune and Money magazines, and Grupo Editorial Expansión, a group of Mexican magazines that Time sold last June.
Digital ad sales had not grown for the two years before a new executive team took over in 2013, Time CEO Joe Ripp said during an earnings call.
By contrast, in the first quarter, print ad revenue fell 12% from the prior year to $280 million.
Overall ad revenue fell 9% to $353 million. Total revenue fell 9% to $680 million. Excluding special items, revenue fell 5%.