About Lee Enterprises

Lee Enterprises, Incorporated is a leading provider of high quality, trusted, local news and information, and a major platform for advertising in the markets it serves. The company operates 75 principally mid-sized local media operations (including TNI Partners (TNI) and Madison Newspapers, Inc. (MNI)) across 26 states. The company is a rapidly growing digital subscription platform, including 721,000 digital subscribers. The company's core strategy aims to grow audiences and engagement through creating, collecting, and distributing trusted local news and information, continuous improvements to subscriber experience, and offering a full suite of omni-channel advertising and marketing to more than 30,000 local advertisers. The company's product portfolio includes digital subscription platforms, daily, weekly and monthly newspapers and niche products, all delivering original local news and information, as well as national and international news. The company's products offer digital and print editions, and its content and advertising is available in real time through its websites and mobile apps. The company operates in predominately mid-sized communities with products ranging from large daily newspapers and associated digital products, such as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and The Buffalo News, to non-daily newspapers with news websites and digital platforms serving smaller communities. The company has made investments in talent and technology to improve user experience, content, data visualization and marketing to align with the shift in spending habits by both consumers and advertisers toward digital products. The company aims to grow its business through three main categories: subscriptions to its product offerings, advertising and marketing solutions to local advertisers, and digital services to a diverse set of customers. Execution of this strategy is expected to transform Lee into a growing and sustainable local media organization. The company's digital subscription platforms are the fastest growing digital subscription platforms in local media. As of September 24, 2023, the company had 721,000 subscribers to its digital platforms, up 35.6% over 2022. Amplified Digital (Amplified), the company's digital marketing services agency, offers a full suite of digital marketing solutions to local advertisers. BLOX Digital, the company's software as a service (SaaS) content platform, is one of the largest web-hosting and content management SaaS providers in North America. BLOX Digital represents a powerful opportunity to drive additional digital revenue by providing state-of-the-art web hosting and content management services to more than 2,000 customers who rely on BLOX Digital for their web, over-the-top display, mobile, video and social media products. Revenue at BLOX Digital, including intercompany revenue, totaled $35 million in 2023, and has achieved a compound annual growth rate of 11.0% over the last ten years. The company generates revenue primarily through advertising and marketing services, subscriptions to its digital and print products, and digital services, primarily through its majority-owned subsidiary, BLOX Digital. The company owns H Media Group, Inc. (BH Media) and The Buffalo News, Inc. (Buffalo News), adding 31 local media operations and nearly doubling its audience size and total operating revenue. Advertising and Marketing Services - Advertising and marketing services are primarily sold to local, regional, and nationwide businesses. There are four categories of advertising revenue: Advertising on the company's owned and operated digital products; Digital marketing services through Amplified, including targeted display, video, OTT, custom content, web development, social media management, search, events, email marketing and other tactics; Display advertising in daily and non-daily print publications; and Preprinted advertising inserted in our daily and non-daily print publications. Digital advertising and marketing services remain a key strategic priority for the company in 2024. The company's advertising teams deploy an omni-channel sales approach that leverages its owned and operated products with Amplified to offer a full suite of digital advertising and marketing services. Through the company's nationally scaled sales force, proprietary ad tech, and sophisticated reporting and analytics, it is well positioned to solve advertising solutions for its advertisers. Through its AI-driven media planning process, the company presents its advertisers with targeted, integrated solutions that help them reach their intended audiences. Advertising and marketing services revenues are subject to moderate seasonality primarily due to fluctuations in advertising volumes tied to holidays and seasonal advertising. The company's advertising and marketing services revenues are typically highest during the first quarter due to holiday and seasonal advertising and lowest in the second quarter following the holiday season. Subscription Revenue - Subscription revenue is earned primarily from selling subscriptions to the company's content through its full access subscriptions, digital-only subscriptions and single copy sales. The company's full access subscriptions include access to all of its content on multiple platforms, including its print products delivered or made available to consumers, websites, smartphone and tablet applications, and e-editions with pricing varying significantly by market and by frequency. Consistent with general publishing industry trends, print subscription volumes declined in 2023. Digital-only subscriptions include access to the company's content on its digital platforms. As of September 24, 2023, the company had over 721,000 digital-only subscribers, up 35.6% compared to 2022. Growing the company's digital-only subscribers and digital-only revenue remains a top strategic priority in 2024. The company's primary digital-only subscriber acquisition tactics include: Investing in relevant, trusted, and intensely local news and information that connects and engages its local communities; Brand marketing campaigns to raise awareness to the desirability of its content; Continuously improving its subscriber experience; and Converting its significant organic traffic through on-platform promotion, paywalls, and dynamic meters. Digital Services Revenue - In 2023, almost all of the company's digital services revenue is from BLOX Digital. BLOX Digital, operated through its 82.5% owned subsidiary INN Partners, L.C., is one of the largest web-hosting and content management SaaS providers in North America and offers state-of-the-art integrated digital publishing and content management solutions for creating, distributing, and monetizing multimedia content. BLOX Digital is the engine that powers the company's digital products. In addition, BLOX Digital services nearly 2,000 daily customers, including legacy media publications, universities, television stations and niche publications. The company's print and digital products competed with other forms of media, including national media providers and amateur content creators, as well as other news and information outlets for subscription spend. Strategic Initiatives The company is committed to a strategy that transforms Lee into a sustainable and growing digital business. The key elements of the company's strategy are to expand digital audiences by transforming the presentation of local news and information; expand digital subscription base and revenue; and diversify and expand offerings for local advertisers. Newsprint The raw material of newspapers, and the company's other print publications, is newsprint. The company purchases newsprint from the U.S. and Canadian producers. History Lee Enterprises, Incorporated was founded in 1890. The company was incorporated in 1950. Lee Enterprises, Incorporated is a leading provider of high quality, trusted, local news and information, and a major platform for advertising in the markets it serves. The company operates 75 principally mid-sized local media operations (including TNI Partners (TNI) and Madison Newspapers, Inc. (MNI)) across 26 states. The company is a rapidly growing digital subscription platform, including 721,000 digital subscribers. The company's core strategy aims to grow audiences and engagement through creating, collecting, and distributing trusted local news and information, continuous improvements to subscriber experience, and offering a full suite of omni-channel advertising and marketing to more than 30,000 local advertisers. The company's product portfolio includes digital subscription platforms, daily, weekly and monthly newspapers and niche products, all delivering original local news and information, as well as national and international news. The company's products offer digital and print editions, and its content and advertising is available in real time through its websites and mobile apps. The company operates in predominately mid-sized communities with products ranging from large daily newspapers and associated digital products, such as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and The Buffalo News, to non-daily newspapers with news websites and digital platforms serving smaller communities. The company has made investments in talent and technology to improve user experience, content, data visualization and marketing to align with the shift in spending habits by both consumers and advertisers toward digital products. The company aims to grow its business through three main categories: subscriptions to its product offerings, advertising and marketing solutions to local advertisers, and digital services to a diverse set of customers. Execution of this strategy is expected to transform Lee into a growing and sustainable local media organization. The company's digital subscription platforms are the fastest growing digital subscription platforms in local media. As of September 24, 2023, the company had 721,000 subscribers to its digital platforms, up 35.6% over 2022. Amplified Digital (Amplified), the company's digital marketing services agency, offers a full suite of digital marketing solutions to local advertisers. BLOX Digital, the company's software as a service (SaaS) content platform, is one of the largest web-hosting and content management SaaS providers in North America. BLOX Digital represents a powerful opportunity to drive additional digital revenue by providing state-of-the-art web hosting and content management services to more than 2,000 customers who rely on BLOX Digital for their web, over-the-top display, mobile, video and social media products. Revenue at BLOX Digital, including intercompany revenue, totaled $35 million in 2023, and has achieved a compound annual growth rate of 11.0% over the last ten years. The company generates revenue primarily through advertising and marketing services, subscriptions to its digital and print products, and digital services, primarily through its majority-owned subsidiary, BLOX Digital. The company owns H Media Group, Inc. (BH Media) and The Buffalo News, Inc. (Buffalo News), adding 31 local media operations and nearly doubling its audience size and total operating revenue. Advertising and Marketing Services - Advertising and marketing services are primarily sold to local, regional, and nationwide businesses. There are four categories of advertising revenue: Advertising on the company's owned and operated digital products; Digital marketing services through Amplified, including targeted display, video, OTT, custom content, web development, social media management, search, events, email marketing and other tactics; Display advertising in daily and non-daily print publications; and Preprinted advertising inserted in our daily and non-daily print publications. Digital advertising and marketing services remain a key strategic priority for the company in 2024. The company's advertising teams deploy an omni-channel sales approach that leverages its owned and operated products with Amplified to offer a full suite of digital advertising and marketing services. Through the company's nationally scaled sales force, proprietary ad tech, and sophisticated reporting and analytics, it is well positioned to solve advertising solutions for its advertisers. Through its AI-driven media planning process, the company presents its advertisers with targeted, integrated solutions that help them reach their intended audiences. Advertising and marketing services revenues are subject to moderate seasonality primarily due to fluctuations in advertising volumes tied to holidays and seasonal advertising. The company's advertising and marketing services revenues are typically highest during the first quarter due to holiday and seasonal advertising and lowest in the second quarter following the holiday season. Subscription Revenue - Subscription revenue is earned primarily from selling subscriptions to the company's content through its full access subscriptions, digital-only subscriptions and single copy sales. The company's full access subscriptions include access to all of its content on multiple platforms, including its print products delivered or made available to consumers, websites, smartphone and tablet applications, and e-editions with pricing varying significantly by market and by frequency. Consistent with general publishing industry trends, print subscription volumes declined in 2023. Digital-only subscriptions include access to the company's content on its digital platforms. As of September 24, 2023, the company had over 721,000 digital-only subscribers, up 35.6% compared to 2022. Growing the company's digital-only subscribers and digital-only revenue remains a top strategic priority in 2024. The company's primary digital-only subscriber acquisition tactics include: Investing in relevant, trusted, and intensely local news and information that connects and engages its local communities; Brand marketing campaigns to raise awareness to the desirability of its content; Continuously improving its subscriber experience; and Converting its significant organic traffic through on-platform promotion, paywalls, and dynamic meters. Digital Services Revenue - In 2023, almost all of the company's digital services revenue is from BLOX Digital. BLOX Digital, operated through its 82.5% owned subsidiary INN Partners, L.C., is one of the largest web-hosting and content management SaaS providers in North America and offers state-of-the-art integrated digital publishing and content management solutions for creating, distributing, and monetizing multimedia content. BLOX Digital is the engine that powers the company's digital products. In addition, BLOX Digital services nearly 2,000 daily customers, including legacy media publications, universities, television stations and niche publications. The company's print and digital products competed with other forms of media, including national media providers and amateur content creators, as well as other news and information outlets for subscription spend. Strategic Initiatives The company is committed to a strategy that transforms Lee into a sustainable and growing digital business. The key elements of the company's strategy are to expand digital audiences by transforming the presentation of local news and information; expand digital subscription base and revenue; and diversify and expand offerings for local advertisers. Newsprint The raw material of newspapers, and the company's other print publications, is newsprint. The company purchases newsprint from the U.S. and Canadian producers. History Lee Enterprises, Incorporated was founded in 1890. The company was incorporated in 1950.