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Travel News Opportunity

Delivered August 1st, 2019. Contributors: Sagar and

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Travel News: Daily Telegraph Travel

Telegraph Media Group Ltd.’s travel commerce revenue increased by 59% from 2016 to 2017 and rose by 70% from 2017 to 2018. The Daily Telegraph claims that its habit of developing a substantial amount of content for travel along with its engaged readership puts the company ahead of its competition. The company predicts that e-commerce will outdistance advertising as a portion of its overall revenue in the coming years with travel as its most mature sector of commerce.

DAILY TELEGRAPH TRAVEL

FINANCIAL DATA POINTS

  • Due to the structural changes that took place within the industry and the ever-changing consumer habits, Telegraph Media Group Ltd's revenues reduced to £285.7 million in 2017 from £303.2 million in 2016.
  • According to the company's financial results for 2017 and highlights of 2018, digital subscription revenue has increased by 30% year-over-year and an increase of the travel commerce revenue by 59% on an LFL basis. Over the period 2017-2018, the company experienced an increase in the travel commerce revenue by 70%.
  • The company recorded its EBITDA value to be £30.3 million in 2017 with a profit before tax amounting to £13.7 million.
  • According to The Drum, Telegraph Travel is currently the "10th largest travel website in the world". The company has invested £10 million in technology and data, new commerce, and brand marketing revenue paths for the long-term.
  • The company’s overall profits before tax decreased from £27.1 million in 2016 to £13.7 million in 2017.

GROWTH FACTORS

  • Telegraph Media Group utilizes Adobe Experience Cloud solutions, Adobe Analytics, Adobe Campaign, and Adobe Audience Manager to better connect with millions of its individual readers. By utilizing these solutions, the company has built cross-channel audience profiles to support various lines of business.
  • Telegraph Media Group has directed its digital engagement strategy in encouraging its readers to subscribe and register with one of the company's many e-commerce businesses.
  • The Telegraph displays banner ads for travel products to its registered readers who are categorized as travelers.
  • It was found that Telegraph Media Group uses its segmented audience such as travelers to promote its own travel offers and also develops attractive packages for advertisers.
  • Daily Telegraph Travel has a 50-person travel team which provides reader offers, affiliate booking links, advertising, and content.
  • Telegraph Travel encourages its readers to join tours such as the trip to Russia by "the company of BBC World Affairs editor and Telegraph columnist John Simpson" in 2018.
  • The Telegraph claims that its practice of developing a substantial amount of content on travel along with its engaged readership places the company ahead of its competition.
  • Daily Telegraph Travel was found to be working with several operators and takes a portion of the overall transaction.

FUTURE-LOOKING STATEMENTS ABOUT THE 'TRAVEL FOR NEWS PUBLISHERS' BUSINESS

  • With the company experiencing high growth of over 50% in 2017, Daily Telegraph Travel believes that travel provides a good opportunity for the company's future.
  • The company predicts that e-commerce will outdistance advertising as a portion of its overall revenue in the coming years with travel as its most mature sector of commerce.
  • According to a report published by Awin, data shows a significant underlying demand with a positive picture for travel publishers. It was also found that new travel publishers might come across hurdles and struggle to monetize their travel content.
  • According to Awin, new and smaller publishers find it particularly difficult to support their companies under the weight of the financial pressure. Thus, the number of travel publishers that join the vertical is observed to decline in year-over-year along with the engagement of existing affiliates.

RESEARCH STRATEGY

We began our search by looking for any financial information and growth factors for Daily Telegraph Travel through the company website, financial statements, and other press releases. The company’s financial statement for the year 2017 provides information on the company’s overall revenue and the growth rate for its travel business segment. However, the financial statement does not provide any breakdown of their financials to calculate the revenue of its travel business segment and provides limited information on the company’s growth factors.
We then expanded our search to include relevant case studies on the Daily Telegraph Travel that could provide information on the company’s financials and growth factors. The idea here was to find any information on how the company has grown in recent years and factors that have driven this growth. We came across a case study published by Adobe which provides data on how the company displays travel ads to its readers. Further, we came across another case study published by Caci that provides information on how the company promotes its travel service offers to readers along with advertising packages to marketers.
Next, we searched through various industry publications and media articles that could provide data on the company’s revenue that is specific to its travel business along with growth factors and future-looking statements. The idea here was to find published industry analysis, commentary on the company, and overall 'travel for news publishers' business. During our search, we came across an article published by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers which provides information on the company’s offerings in the 'travel for news publishers' business.
Further, we came across an article published by The Drum which includes statements by Nick Hugh, CEO of Telegraph Media Group, providing details on the company’s growth rate in the 'travel for news publishers' business sector. However, no information was found on the company's revenue for the 'travel for news publishers' business in terms of absolute value or percentage share of the overall revenue. Industry articles from websites such as Digiday and Awin provided an overview of certain growth factors for Daily Telegraph Travel and future-looking statements about the 'travel for news publishers' business.

We then expanded our search to include external databases for any financial information in terms of revenue of the Daily Telegraph Travel. However, most of the databases such as Pitchbook and Hoover’s only provided the overall revenue for the parent company i.e. Telegraph Media Group and did not provide any breakdown for its 'travel for news publishers' business. Additionally, we also searched through government databases such as Companies House but found no information on the company’s 'travel for news publishers' business revenue.
Therefore, after an exhaustive search through all these channels, we were able to provide some financial information on Daily Telegraph Travel’s 'travel for news publishers' business along with its growth factors and future-looking statements. However, exact revenue information for Daily Telegraph Travel’s 'travel for news publishers' business could not be found nor could be triangulated.

One of the probable reasons for the unavailability of such information could be because the company is privately held, it does not publicly disclose revenue information specific to its business segments. It could also be possible that since the company has not disclosed any revenue specific information on its 'travel for news publishers' business, none of the industry publications and databases have calculated such segment revenues.

Did this report spark your curiosity?

Sources
Sources

Travel

telegraph.co.uk
Publication Year: 2019
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Telegraph Media Group Ltd Financial results for 2017 and highlights of 2018

telegraph.co.uk
Publication Year: 2018
Quotes
  • "Revenues down to £285.7m (FY 2016: £303.2m) reflecting structural changes within the overall industry, due to evolving consumer habits."
  • "Travel commerce revenue up 59% year-on-year on a LFL basis."
  • "Profit before tax of £13.7m, down from £27.1m in FY 2016."
  • "All of our current investments are planned to deliver sustainable growth and scale in the long-term, including in digital advertising where we are building a team better equipped to compete in a market which has changed fundamentally over the past few years. "
  • "We are already seeing some of these investments pay off, such as in digital subscriptions, which has seen revenue grow 30% year-on-year, and travel commerce, where revenue has grown 59% on a like-forlike basis year-on-year. "
  • "This provides strong confidence that we continue to make good progress against our core strategic priorities."
a

Adobe Customer Story - The Telegraph

adobe.com
Publication Year: 2018
Quotes
  • "For instance, if someone is a devoted reader of all travel articles on The Telegraph, Adobe Audience Manager will categorize the reader as a traveler as part of his or her profile. "
  • "Telegraph Media Group then knows to display a banner ad for luxury luggage for instance, when the reader is browsing Telegraph Media Group web properties."

Mastering customer segmentation in media: Telegraph case study

caci.co.uk
Publication Year: 2017
Quotes
  • "Segmenting its content audience is just one part of the Telegraph’s current journey with data. "
  • "Now, the company is pioneering the use of a data management platform (DMP) to develop broader segments based around interests like travel and financial services. "
  • "It plans to use those audience segments not only to promote its own travel and financial services offers, but also to develop attractive packages for advertisers."

What now for UK’s Telegraph Media Group? - World News Publishing Focus by WAN-IFRA

blog.wan-ifra.org
Publication Year: 2017
Quotes
  • "The group has a 50-person travel team (including commercial editorial people, separate from The Telegraph’s journalists) which provides content, advertising, affiliate booking links and reader offers."

Telegraph boss Nick Hugh: ‘We are still the number one selling quality newspaper’

thedrum.com
Publication Year: 2018
Quotes
  • "But Hugh has clearly never heard of the Euston Project. “This is a business that is known for its quality journalism and has diversified historically better than many others,” he says diplomatically, before noting that TMG’s Travel commerce business has grown by nearly 70% in the last year. "
  • "Telegraph Travel is the 10th largest travel website in the world and its readers are encouraged to partake in tours such as a forthcoming trip to Russia in the company of BBC World Affairs editor and Telegraph columnist John Simpson."

How travel is driving The Telegraph’s e-commerce business - Digiday

digiday.com
Publication Year: 2017
Quotes
  • "The Telegraph believes that its habit of creating a substantial amount of travel content and its engaged readership puts it ahead of others."
  • "It predicts e-commerce will overtake advertising as a portion of its total revenue in three to five years. Travel is the most mature commerce sector for The Telegraph."
  • "It’s had high growth, north of 50 percent, but not triple digit, and that’s not from a tiny base. That’s testament to the opportunity that sits in front of us on the travel side."
  • "Not all of the travel content The Telegraph produces has an e-commerce link. Most are list-based, but there’s also news, like BA offering free flights for children. "
  • "Lists, like the top 10 best hotels in Dubrovnik, chosen by Telegraph travel experts, link to the travel aggregator Booking.com, pulling in its API feed so readers can carry out transactions."
  • "At the other end of the scale, Telegraph Tours and Ultimate Itineraries — such as a nine-day South African railway tour with Jeremy Paxman and an eight-day Christmas cruise down the Danube with Mary Berry — are trips The Telegraph’s commercial writers plan that tour operators execute exclusively for Telegraph readers. The publisher works with a few dozen operators and takes a cut of the overall transaction."

Travel affiliate marketing | Awin

awin.com
Publication Year: 2018
Quotes
  • "Despite this, data indicates a strong underlying demand and positive picture . Last year, Awin delivered five million travel sales with a total booking value of £656 million. "
  • "The power of the affiliate channel led to a 28% increase in sales and 11% increase in clicks, driven by a surge in demand for local holidays and airport transfers."
  • "Travel publishers should invest in their own social presence and build their brand in a way that makes them relevant and trustworthy to the eyes of their digital travel audience. "
  • "New travel publishers can struggle to monetise their content. Travel is a unique vertical within affiliates due to the complexity of the customer journey and the low customer retention rates."
  • "Although this is the nature of travel, smaller and new publishers find it increasingly difficult to support their businesses under the strength of the financial pressure. "
  • "As a result, the number of new travel publishers joining the vertical is declining YoY and so is engagement of existing affiliates. Network data shows that one in four new travel affiliates will leave the channel within the first 12 months."

Telegraph Media Group Company Profile: Acquisition & Investors | PitchBook

pitchbook.com
Publication Year: 2019
h

Telegraph Media Group

hoovers.com
Publication Year: 2019

TELEGRAPH MEDIA GROUP LIMITED - Filing history (free information from Companies House)

beta.companieshouse.gov.uk
Publication Year: 2019