Millivres Prowler publish three titles: Pink Paper, Gay Times and Diva. In the last two years they have migrated much of their publishing activities into digital media, supporting expansion into international markets.
The first step was taking fortnightly newspaper Pink Paper to a wholly online publication, www.pinkpaper.com. Focussing on its core proposition of news and recruitment, they converted a 40,000 print distribution to 100,000 monthly visitors, fuelling a 10,000 strong email newsletter list.
Gay Times and DIVA have concentrated on digital editions. In Summer 2010, they launched as paid-for iPhone / iPad apps with Magazine Cloner. Volumes grew from a few hundred to several thousands. Net revenues received by the publisher have grown steadily to £10k a month. International sales have been strong, especially in the US, Europe and in South America, where traditional print distribution has been hard to establish.
Video and social media have been high growth areas. A daily video news bulletin, PinkSixty, launched in November 2010, with ads from recruitment, travel and events advertisers, (eg. Deloittes and Swiss Tourist Board), who use the expertise of the editorial team to get the message right for the audience. The Gay Times Facebook page was recently updated and now has more focus on gathering email addresses; so far its 100,000 “likes” have translated into 8,000 names. Combined with 12,000 names from DIVA and 10,000 from Pink Paper, this provides significant reach.
MD Kim Watson believes that the digital channels are crucial to reaching international audiences, and by converting visitors to newsletter subscribers they can promote the print publications. Interestingly, DIVA’s print sales are steady and Gay Times are up year on year. Across the portfolio, MPG now reach over 400,000 people from the international gay community.
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