The New York Times Company adds a very different subscription revenue stream with the $35 million acquisition of “highly profitable” Baseline StudioSystems, which supplies proprietary entertainment information. Studios and production companies are among those subscribing to the online database and research service sold to NYTCO by Hollywood Media Corp. NTYCO expects about $6 million in revenues this year from Baseline. The company, which will report to Vivian Schiller, SVP/GM NYTimes.com, will remain in Santa Monica with current leadership Rafi Gordon and Alex Amin.
—Beyond the additional revenue streams from subscription and syndication/licensing, NYTCO president Janet Robinson said the acquisition “will provide NYTimes.com with enhanced content offerings and improved advertising opportunities in its popular entertainment vertical.” She also said the purchase “supports our plan to build the authoritative online destination for the entertainment consumer and for the industry.”
—Hollywood Media plans to focus more on its consumer web properties including Hollywood.com, Broadway.com, Theatre.com, and an interest in MovieTickets.com. For the first half of 2006, Baseline accounted for 5 percent of the company’s “aggregate consolidated” revenues. Release.
Rafat adds: Couple of interesting points on this deal: First is that Hollywood Media is a possible acquisition target and I know some PE players were looking at it. This means that now it is a purely consumer/commerce play, and probably more palatable. Secondly, this means NYT is now developing a full blown entertainment media coverage (as Janet is quoted above as saying), competing against the entrenched trades like Variety and Hollywood Reporter, and LA Times to some extent…it has been increasing its entertainment coverage online, with blogs, new sections etc.