The Spectator

Which media titles are worth the most?

Getty Images 
issue 14 September 2024

Media interest

This week The Spectator was acquired by Old Queen Street Media for £100 million, around five times its annual turnover. How does that compare with other media valuations (also as a multiple of revenue)?

Date / Title / Valuation

Aug 2010 / Newsweek / 0.000000006

Feb 2011 / Huffington Post / 10.0

Aug 2013 / Washington Post / 0.4

Jul 2015 / Financial Times / 2.5

Aug 2015 / The Economist / 2.8

Nov 2016 / Buzzfeed / 6.8

Jul 2017 / Vice / 8.1

Oct 2018 / Time / 1.1

Mar 2021 / New Scientist / 4.1

Aug 2021 / Politico / 5.0

Jan 2022 / The Athletic / 8.5

Jun 2022 / New European / 3.4

Sep 2024 / The Spectator / 4.8

Vegging out

Research from the 100,000 participant-strong ‘American Gut Project’ suggests that people who ate 30 or more different plants per week had more diverse gut microbiomes that ‘promoted health’. But do Brits have any hope of increasing their fruit and veg intake? According to the Association of UK Dieticians only 8% of children, 27% of working-age adults and 35% of over-65s actually achieve the existing five-a-day recommendation.

Into the arena

Oasis announced two more shows for Wembley Stadium, meaning that after next year’s tour, they will have played the stadium seven times. Last year, Taylor Swift became the second artist to play Wembley eight times on a single tour, equalling Take That’s record in 2011. Previously, Michael Jackson held the record of seven, from 1988.

Taking credit

This winter most pensioners will no longer receive the winter fuel payments, as the handout will be restricted to OAPs in receipt of certain benefits, including pension credit. In 2022 around 2.2m Britons were eligible for pension credit, but only 1.4m received it. Number of pension credit claims submitted this year for each week (weeks commencing):

1 April  3,900

8 April  4,400

15 April 4,400

22 April  4,200

29 April 3,700

6 May  3,400

13 May  4,100

20 May 4,000

27 May 3,300

3 June 4,200

10 June 4,000

17 June 3,400

24 June 3,200

1 July 3,800

8 July 4,100

15 July 3,300

22 July 3,500

29 July 7,900

5 August 7,300

12 August 5,900

19 August 8,400

26 August 9,000

Comments