Media24, one of SA’s largest news publishers, swung to a full-year loss, hurt by a drop in revenue and restructuring costs as the business moved from a print to digital first operating model.
It has been a trying year for the Naspers-owned media group.
In 2024, Media24 embarked on a major reconfiguration of its business in the pursuit of cutting expensive and loss-making legacy print businesses and infrastructure, in favour of a leaner structure that favours the capital light dynamics of digital publishing.
As part of the effort, the group announced a strategic shift that put 400 jobs at risk as it sought to close the print editions of five newspapers, transitioning three of them into digital-only brands.
Media24 also hived off its media logistics business On the Dot, and its community newspaper portfolio to Novus, subject to regulatory approvals. Competition authorities approved Novus’ bid to acquire those assets in the latter part of the year.
While the group has made these changes as a way to cut legacy costs, the move has affected earnings in the short term.
In the 12-months to end-March 2025, Media24’s two main units, News24 and Netwerk24, saw a paltry 1.6% rise in paywall subscribers to 212,473 from 209,138. The company has not disclosed how many paying customers it would need to be sustainable.
“Financial year 2025 was a watershed year, when Media24 took the crucial, and inevitable, giant leap from legacy publishing into the realm of digitally led news media operations,” said Naspers.
Revenue for the full year fell 19%, from $175m to $141m, swinging to an adjusted loss before interest and tax position at $15m from a profit of $1m in the prior year. In local currency, revenue fell by 15%.
The company now publishes several magazines and two newspapers.
Media24 says it reaches 1-million average daily unique browsers, generating 9.7-million average daily page views across its digital platforms. This is according to data from Google Analytics and the Interactive Advertising Bureau.
Media24 ended the period with 1,312 employees, including permanent and temporary workers.
As with the broader Naspers and Prosus stable, led by CEO Fabricio Bloisi, Media24 is also looking at how it can capitalise on artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
“In line with global market-leading publishers, Media24 experimented with tools and applications to establish the principles of ethical AI, responsible-use editorial guidelines, improve literacy and boost adoption of the Prosus AI tool Toqan,” said the company.
During the period, the business saw Ishmet Davidson step down as CEO at the start of September 2024, with Raj Lalbahadur taking the reins as interim chief.
Print editions on the chopping block at Media24 include Beeld, Rapport, City Press, Daily Sun and Soccer Laduma, as well as the digital editions of Volksblad and Die Burger Oos-Kaap and the digital hub SNL24. Those transitioning to digital-only publications are Rapport, City Press and Daily Sun. As digital brands, these will reside on the group’s Netwerk24 and News24 platforms.
The company also shut down two of SA’s best-known magazine publications, Drum and True Love.
“We remain committed to the valuable role we play in our society and democracy at large, while building a sustainable future for Media24 as a profitable digital media business focused on content production for news, television and books,” said the company.
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