(New York, NY — April 23, 2017) Open Road Integrated Media (OR/M), a digital media company, announced results for the first quarter ending March 31, 2017. Revenue rose 40% while gross profit increased 50%, and operating EBITDA improved 44%. The numbers reflect changes in comparison to the same period in 2016, and were reported by CEO Paul Slavin. “These earnings represent 15 months of continued solid growth,” Slavin said, “much of the credit for this achievement goes to our highly effective direct-to-consumer initiatives.”
First Quarter 2017 Financial Highlights:
- OR/M daily deals program, Early Bird Books, revenue up 219% over 2016
- OR/M branded funnel sites and newsletter revenue increased 120% over 2016
- OR/M publishing revenue grew 32% over 2016
“These results can be attributed to our enhanced data collection and analyses, expansion of our direct-to-consumer newsletter businesses, and targeted audience development on our sites—all of which provide a more in-depth understanding of our customers,” Slavin said.
Audience development and engagement strategies resulted in more than 670,000 subscribers and a tremendous financial performance from OR/M’s newsletters. Early Bird Books, a daily deals newsletter, added 62.7% more users and drove a 219% uplift in sales. After more than doubling its subscriber base, The Lineup newsletter revenue was up 100% over previous year, reflecting a newly implemented monetization model. The Portalist newsletter, launched in late 2016, is showing its first complete quarter of sales.
OR/M’s branded funnel sites, which include The-Line-Up.com, ThePortalist.com and the Early Bird Books blog, provide earned media for OR/M’s publishing business, as well as driving retail purchase and highly qualified customer acquisition for the newsletters. Growth of the branded funnels is ascribed to improved audience development, customer relationship management and content curation efforts.
Publishing continued to gain momentum that began in early 2016 with strong ebook sales. Several classics provided notable contributions to the last quarter’s revenue: The Boxcar Children Mysteries: Books One Through Twelve; The Good Earth Trilogy; Upstairs at the White House; Captains and the Kings; and The Corfu Trilogy. “A highly selective acquisitions strategy and efficient publishing operation lead to ongoing double digit increases in ebook sales,” Slavin said.
About Open Road Integrated Media
Open Road Integrated Media is a prestige content brand delivering digital experiences that entertain and inform readers around the world; their network of digital properties produces compelling stories that keep audiences engaged—across devices and around the world. The Open Road brands include Early Bird Books, a daily eBook deals newsletter and website; The Lineup, for fans of true crime, horror, the mysterious, and the paranormal; The Portalist, for fans of science fiction, fantasy; Murder & Mayhem, for fans of mystery and thriller; The Archive, for fans of history and non-fiction; and A Love So True, for fans of romance; and Open Road Media, a global eBook publisher whose catalog includes legendary authors such as William Styron, Alice Walker, Pat Conroy, Gloria Steinem, Octavia Butler, John Jakes, Pearl S. Buck, Walker Percy, Ruth Rendell, and Sherman Alexie.