Active Interest Media Sells Several Magazines to Pocket Outdoor Media (foliomag.com)

Kohl’s Kitchen Products scored two of the top five most remembered print ads placed in culinary magazines in December, based on data from GfK MRI’s Starch Advertising Research. In the epicurean category, the highest noted ad score—that is, the percentage of readers of an issue who recalled noticing the advertisement—went to a two-page ad for the book “At the Southern Table with Paula Deen,” which appeared in the December issue of Cooking with Paula Deen. It scored a 90 percent. Two separate gatefold ads for Kohl’s Kitchen Products (Food Network Magazine) checked in at 89 and 82 percent, and KitchenAid Multi Major Appliances (Food & Wine) had a score of 85. Click Read More below for additional information.

Hearst today announced that it has acquired The Telegraph and Journal-Courier from Civitas Media, LLC (“Civitas”). The acquisition strengthens Hearst Newspapers’ commitment to covering news in Illinois communities, adding to the reporting done by the Edwardsville Intelligencer. The announcement was made by Hearst President and CEO Steven R. Swartz and Hearst Newspapers President Mark Aldam. Financial terms were not disclosed. Civitas, headquartered in Davidson, North Carolina, is a portfolio company of Philadelphia-based private equity investment firm Versa Capital Management, LLC (“Versa”). Click Read More below for additional detail.

Commenting on the results, Nigel Newton, Chief Executive, said: “Bloomsbury experienced excellent trading in the first half with year-on-year profit growth of 60% to £4.0 million. This has delivered our highest first half earnings since 2008 and exceeded the Board’s expectations. Online book sales and e-book revenues were significantly higher. The Consumer division had an excellent performance with 17% revenue growth and a £2.1 million increase in profit before tax and highlighted items to £2.7 million. Stand-out bestsellers during the period included Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race, Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood, White Rage, Humankind and Such A Fun Age. In the Non-Consumer division, our strategy of developing online academic resources, conceived five years ago, meant we were well placed to benefit from the accelerated shift by academic institutions to digital products to support remote learning. We saw 47% growth in sales of Bloomsbury Digital Resources as a result.