IPC Media poaches DMG Media’s Marcus Rich for CEO role

IPC Media has hired Daily Mail publisher DMG Media’s commercial managing director, Marcus Rich, as its new chief executive. 

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IPC publishes magazines including Look, NME and Marie Claire

Rich will join IPC in the spring, reporting to Evelyn Webster, executive vice president at parent company Time Inc. He replaces Sylvia Auton, who retired as boss of IPC in May after 36 years with the company.

Rich joined Associated Newspapers in February 2009 as managing director of The Mail on Sunday and deputy MD of the Daily Mail, before taking up his current role. He previously worked at Emap for 16 years and is currently the chair of the Audit Bureau of Circulations’ Reporting Standards group.

The appointment comes as IPC, which publishes consumer magazines including NME, Look and Marie Claire, accelerates its multi-platform strategy. Most recently, it has launched tools aimed at optimising advertising on mobile devices.

That comes as the popularity of digital editions, including smartphone and tablet versions, rises, while print continues to decline. Sales of consumer magazine digital editions jumped 64 per cent year on year in the six months to the end of June, althought this was not enough to offset print declines as total average circulation fell by 1.9 per cent year on year.

The publishing division of Time Inc, which includes IPC as well as business magazine Fortune and style publications InStyle and People, saw revenues drop 2 per cent year on year to $818m in the three months to the end of September. Operating income dropped to $115m, from $127m a year before.

Webster says: “Marcus is an extremely accomplished business leader, with a distinguished record of delivering strong growth. This, coupled with his deep experience in building new and innovative business opportunities make him the ideal person to lead IPC as we accelerate our multi-platform strategy.”

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