The Sun’s EVP, publisher shared News UK’s prospects for growth in choppy economic waters at Campaign magazine’s media roundtable
“Relatively optimistic” about the media industry’s ability to weather an economic downturn, Carter pointed out the sector’s growing resilience and the advantages of taking a long-term outlook on growth.
“The long-term winners will continue to be those that drive transformation and not just hit year-end numbers”, he told the table. “Have an outlook on the longer term, rather than reacting, but obviously mitigating inflation in the short term.”
Carter expected digital ad spend to continue to grow throughout any expected recession, as well as the likelihood of consumers turning to brands they already trust.
He said: “Despite [the prospect of] a consumer recession, for parts of our business like The Times, we don’t believe they’re going to suffer churn. We’re more likely to see that people will turn again to trusted brands.”
He also pointed to The Sun’s expansion in the US market as a growth prospect for News UK, as well as the publisher’s podcast content, “which [is] going to be increasingly important to our business”.
When asked what experience from previous downturns he could apply to the next one, Carter stressed the importance of a strategic approach, investing for growth while ensuring costs do not exceed revenues.
“Be very focussed, because, as the market returns, you will find that if you have continued to invest in those growth areas, your growth will be faster than others.”
See the full roundtable conversation with Dominic Carter and other industry leaders here.
