IPC Media has today announced that it is to close three internet sites and make 90 staff redundant, following a review of its online business. Beme.com, unmissabletv.com and uploaded.com will all close, as IPC instigates a programme to rationalise its portfolio of internet brands.
The company will now focus on six internet sites, which it believes will deliver strong commercial return. These are NME.com, countrylife.co.uk, horseandhound.co.uk, decanter.com, webuser.com and ybw.com.
Group strategy director, Julian Drinkall, said: “It is clear that the performance of our online activities has not met the original projections. We are therefore refocusing our digital strategy with full commitment behind those sites whose business models are sustainable and which reinforce major IPC brands.”
Chief executive of IPC Media, Sly Bailey, stopped marginally short of admitting that IPC had made a mistake by saying: “The media landscape has changed considerably. Two years ago, investment and confidence levels in the internet were over inflated. Now the reality is very different and media organisations are adopting greater realism in their plans.”
The closures come less than a month after IPC Media was taken over by AOL Time Warner in a deal worth £1.15 billion (see AOL Takes IPC Media For £1.15bn).
Comment
Five years ago the web was heralded as the key not only to an information revolution but also, in some circles, a new economic order. Media companies were seen to be desperately behind the times if they had no new media division and were often forced to start such operation if only to keep the share price afloat. Indeed, many traditional media groups that adopted Net development at an early stage saw their market value take a healthy upward turn.
Since the heady days of the dotcom boom, there has come the almost inevitable dotcom fallout. New media spend was decimated and digital divisions disbanded.
IPC is therefore by no means alone in having haul back its online investments. Radio group GWR has dropped 46 jobs in reduction of internet investment (see 46 Jobs Go As GWR Restructures Internet Operations); EMAP recently sold its Digital Travel division to Online Travel Corporation (see Emap Offloads Travel Websites For £2.8m) and prior to that had cut its digital spend a number of times; Carlton has closed its Jamba and Popcorn entertainment websites and Granada has pulled the plug on Wellbeing, a joint venture with high street retailer Boots (see Carlton Interactive To Close Websites).
