A U.K. News Venture Is Seeking To Buck The Global Trend Of Declining Sales

Forbes

6 hours ago

The New World, founder and Editor in Chief., Matt kelly says willingness to act on gut instinct is ... More part and parcel of being an entrepreneur
Question: How do you make a small fortune? Punchline: Easy. You start with a large fortune and then invest in a newspaper business.
As jokes go, it's not side-splittingly funny, but it does reflect the realities of the newspaper industry. Globally, sales of national, regional and local newspapers have been in decline for around two decades. To make matters worse, advertisers have long since moved a significant portion of their spending online, a trend that has made life even tougher for publishers that retain a commitment to printed media. Looking ahead, it seems likely that sales and circulation figures will continue to fall.
So, on the face of it, this does not seem like a particularly opportune time to take an entrepreneurial bet on a news-focused publication that was born out of the turmoil caused by the U.K.'s decision to leave the European Union. But that's what Matt Kelly, founder and Editor in Chief of The New World ( previously, The New European) is doing. With the backing of some high profile investors, he is rebranding the publication, with the aim of increasing its circulation and appeal at a time when the market tides seem to be running in the other direction. When I spoke to him, I was keen to get his view on the scope for entrepreneurship to flourish in a print media market that seems to be in continuing decline.
Launched in 2016, The New European was intended to be a four-edition pop-up newspaper - a temporary exercise aimed at putting the pro-EU case and lobbying for a second referendum. Almost a decade later, it has achieved profitability on the back of about 33,000 paid sales per edition. Now rebranded as The New World, its focus has widened, and Kelly sees an opportunity to expand the subscriber base nationally and ultimately internationally. If the original brief was to counter the politics that drove Brexit, the new remit is to take a stance against what Kelly describes as global populism. As he acknowledges, changing a formula that is currently delivering a profit is an inherently risky undertaking.
'I feel this is an audacious thing to do,' he says. 'It gives me massive butterflies in my stomach. We have made the New European profitable, and now we are rolling the dice again. But it is a necessary boldness. Part and parcel of being an entrepreneur is a willingness to act on gut instinct and take a risk.'
Standing still could be a bigger risk. While the publication found an audience, a continuing focus on reversing Brexit may not bring in new subscribers in the future, nor prevent existing readers from cancelling over time. The hope is that a rebrand will re-engage the existing audience and prove attractive to newcomers.
If that kind of pivot makes sense, the move has to be seen against the realities of the U.K.'s newspaper market. According to a 2024 survey by media regulator Ofcom, 51% of British adults got most of their news from newspapers in 2018. By 2024, this had fallen to 34%, with only 22% using print and the rest favoring online editions. Meanwhile, there is also evidence that populations around the world are turning away from news. A global survey by the Reuters Institute for Journalism uncovered a trend towards disengagement, 39% of respondents sometimes or often avoided news.
So, how do you counter that trend, particularly if you're a niche publisher, albeit one with a national reach. The short answer might be, you provide a product that resonates with the target audience. As Kelly recalls, there was no business plan for The New European until the first circulation figures came in. 'I would have been happy with six or seven thousand,' he says. 'The first week's total was 40,000. That showed there was a viable market for a niche magazine.'
Initially, the title was owned by regional publisher Archant, which ran into financial problems and was bought out by private equity. At that point, Kelly sought investors to back his business plan and managed to attract some well-known names from tech and media. These included VCs Saul and Robin Klein, TransferWise founder Taavet Hinrikus and figures from the media, including CNN's Mark Thompson, former FT editor Lionel Barber and Ed Elliot of media firm Edelman.
'Some like Saul and Robin are VCs, but they are investing as angels,' says Kelly. 'We have also allocated 16,000 shares to people who have invested between £15 and £2,000. They are mostly readers.'
The investors are aligned with the mission, so is this merely a good deed in wicked world rather than true investment? Kelly insists that is not the case.
'There is goodwill here, but this is a business. The investment isn't philanthropy,' he says.
As he acknowledges, the investors probably won't see the 10x or 20x return demanded by VCs but if the time comes to sell the exit value could be driven by more than sales and revenues. 'I think any future buyer will be paying for influence,' Kelly says. The aim, therefore, is to ensure the publication becomes more influential.'
Despite the pressures caused by the ongoing declining circulation trend, there has been a flurry of investment in the U.K. media market lately. A relative newcomer Tortoise Media has bought the venerable Observer newspaper from the Guardian for an undisclosed sum and political magazine, The Spectator has been purchased by Sir Paul Marshall for £100 million. Sir Paul was also an investor in right-leaning television startup GB News.
So is this a good time for media entrepreneurship? Kelly is cautiously optimistic, arguing that after a period in which traditional publishing models were upended by the internet, business models are once again becoming clear. For its part, The New World sees subscription rather than advertising as the revenue driver.
And the appetite of the audience is changing. So there is an opportunity for new entrants that can say we represent what you (the reader) are feeling.'
And of course that's a principle that cuts in a lot of directions. While the The New World is designed to appeal to progressives, the GB News TV channel - another post-Brexit enterprise - is aimed at those who dress right. The common factor is giving a niche audience what it relates to . That's probably the space in which news media entrepreneurship can thrive in right now. From political YouTube channels to print and broadcast platforms, there are audience segments that are hungry for outlets that reflect their own outlook. For those who can keep costs down and clear focus, there can be money to be made, even if in the bigger media world, the commercial pressures are huge.
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