The slow painful death of print advertising has caused The Daily Mail to cut this year's profit forecast
The Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) said in a trading update published Thursday that its 2015 outlook will now be towards the "lower end of market expectations."
Underlying group revenue dropped 1% in the three months to the end of June 2015. DMG Media, in which The Daily Mail sits, saw a 5% decrease in revenue in the period.
Circulation revenues fell 3% due to lower volumes, although both The Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday grew their UK market share - to 23.4% and 22.1% respectively. Significantly, the Mail on Sunday overtook The Sun on Sunday to become the UK's biggest Sunday newspaper in May, Press Gazette reported. The Sun is still the UK's biggest daily, with a circulation of 1.8 million in May, according to ABC, compared to The Daily Mail's 1.7 million.
DMGT said there was a "marked deterioration" in the UK print advertising market, which is negatively impacting the group. EMarketer predicts print advertising spending will drop 3.9% this year to £2.7 billion ($4.2 billion.) Meanwhile, digital ad spend is expected to grow 12% to £8.1 billion ($12.6 billion.)
The success of Mail Online, which grew digital advertising review by 8% year-on-year to £1 million ($1.6 million) partly offset the £7 million ($10.9 million) - or 15% - decline in print advertising at The Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday in the quarter. However, overall, advertising revenues across the Mail business as a whole were down 9%.
The MailOnline boosted its global monthly unique visitors by 25% year-on-year to 211 million.