Today, Factory Media and Forward Internet Group announce that Forward has taken a majority stake in Factory Media – Europe’s leading action sports media company.

The move will allow Factory Media to accelerate growth in its flagship digital offering MPORA.COM and its network of 25 targeted sports websites including RoadcyclingUK.com and RideUKBMX.com, now reaching an audience of 4 Million sports fans each month.

Immediate investment will focus on social media, video development, website performance, ecommerce solutions and tablet media. The newly backed business will be able to bring a variety of advances to the market and exciting prospects for advertisers to extend their audience reach and interaction with Factory’s passionate group of communities.

Factory Media will be working alongside a stable of other successful web-based companies within the Forward Group, including uSwitch.com, a leading price comparison and switching site. This will specifically benefit MPORA.com/GEAR, Factory’s own product comparison platform recently launched for the worldwide cycling and snowboarding markets.

Offline media will still remain a vital part of Factory Media’s portfolio and the company will continue to cultivate its 19 consumer magazine brands as well as develop extensive new brand offerings to meet audience and advertiser demands, including market changing mobile and tablet innovation.

Factory Media’s ambition is to be the undisputed leader in innovative offline and online publishing, maintaining the integrity of each and all of its brands and their strong communities.

Factory Media require a confident and able sales exec to develop its Board Sports classified business, focusing on the Travel sector. You must be able to demonstrate success in telesales within the media industry and a passion for action sports, to join a team of 8 in our busy London head office. Experience of print and online sales is a prerequisite for the job, as is an entrepreneurial ability to identify revenue generating opportunities. You must be determined and tenacious in this role.

Experience and Skills Required:

• Minimum 2 years of telesales experience in the media industry
• Track record of achieving targets and high call rates
• Experience in selling print and online packages
• Passion for action sports
• Knowledge and contacts in the Travel industry a distinct advantage

Apply to matt.fenton@factorymedia.com

matt.fenton@factorymedia.com

Factory Media are pleased to announce that 300,000 magazine apps have been downloaded through the Apple Newsstand in the first seven days of its launch, as part of the Apple iOS5 release.

The success of these niche sports magazines on Apple’s platform reflects the passion of youth markets for digital products with incredible photography and great editorial.

Factory Media has successfully released 19 magazine titles into Apple Newsstand.

Chris Talintyre, Head of Direct & Digital Marketing at Factory Media Ltd said, ‘The fact that Apple has now reached over 10 billion App downloads is testament to the success of the App Store as a digital distribution platform; Newsstand is the next logical step for the Apple and for Publishers.’

‘All of our magazine Apps are fully compliant with iOS5 specs. They include the ability for magazines to be pushed and downloaded in the background, with auto renew subscriptions that are automatically fed into Apple Newsstand.’

‘Although it’s still very early days, the sales data we are seeing is very encouraging. We have seen a 429% increase in magazine sales since the launch of Newsstand. We see this new distribution channel as yet another way of cutting through barriers to reach new consumers who are passionate about niche sport content.’

Factory Media Ltd has been working closely with Apple for over two years, with a mutual commitment to delivering the best content to all Apple iOS5 users.

About Factory Media Ltd.

Factory Media is Europe’s leading action sports media owner. It publishes 27 digital and 19 consumer magazine brands in six languages and serves over four million consumers across the snow, mountain bike, surf, wakeboarding, BMX, windsurfing, skateboard, motocross and cycling markets. It is a fast-growing, pioneering and diverse business dedicated to providing action sports fans with the very best content from around the world. Its digital network, a vast action sports resource headlined by aggregate portal Mpora.com, majors in video content and now, with the launch of Mpora | Gear sports equipment. It is currently utilised by over 6500 other websites around the world. For further information, go to www.factorymedia.com or http://mpora.com/gear.

See the full article here: http://www.thespecialistmediashow.com/content/building-gear-reviews-site-niche-sports-market

Mpora.com, the world’s largest digital Action Sports platform today launches Mpora | Gear to its 4 Million monthly users at Mpora.com/gear.

Mpora | Gear is the first scalable single platform that enables users to find, compare and share tens of thousands of action sports products. The website, part of Mpora.com, includes advanced user reviewing capability and the functionality to compare, and buy directly from, some of the world’s best online retailers.

Mountain Bike and Road Cycling are the first two markets to be featured on Mpora | Gear, however Winter Sports will follow shortly in 2011.

Mpora ‘Experts’ are already in their hundreds – the platform’s loyal following of enthusiasts who are committed to reviewing, testing and discussing the latest products in the market. And more will be joining the project as Independent Retailers and enthusiastic amateurs sign up to become Mpora | Gear reviewers. Alongside this, editorial teams from nineteen of the worlds best action sports magazine brands will be feeding in their own opinions on the latest gear to hit the markets.

The site’s ethos is to present action sports fans with the most comprehensive selection of sports product in the world, and deliver it in an environment that it is easy to use, shareable with their friends, and provides the most useful shopping tool available by gathering professional and amateur reviews to facilitate the best buying experience possible.

Darryl Newton, Managing Director of Factory Media who own Mpora.com stated: ‘Mpora | Gear is a natural development for Factory Media in our strategy of servicing the needs of our audiences and advertisers. The action sports market is driven by a passion for great product to improve their participation and experience, and Mpora fans love talking about the latest and best gear out there as much as they love watching amazing videos.’

ABOUT FACTORY MEDIA

Factory Media is Europe’s leading action sports media owner. It publishes 27 digital and 19 consumer magazine brands in six languages and serves over four million consumers across the snow, mountain bike, surf, wakeboarding, BMX, windsurfing, skateboard, motocross and cycling markets. It is a fast-growing, pioneering and diverse business dedicated to providing action sports fans with the very best content from around the world. Its digital network, a vast action sports resource headlined by aggregate portal Mpora.com, majors in video content and now, with the launch of Mpora | Gear, sports equipment. It is currently utilised by over 6500 other websites around the world. For further information, go to www.factorymedia.com or www.Mpora.com/Gear.

„It robbed some sleep, but it was worth it,“ says editor in chief Oliver Tielsch. „We are all happy and proud to have made this issue come true.“ The crew can be indeed, as the 300 comes also bagged and bundled with a re-print of the very first copy no. 1 from 1982! And: To worship the diversity of skateboarding even more, there are four different covers, fans may chose from or collect them all. Showing Willow, Michael von Fintel, Paco Elles, and Lennie Burmeister, those shots are captured on the four different classic kind of spots; stair-sets, rails, ledges and tranny.

Issue 300 is available now.

Monster Skateboard Magazine is published in German and distributed throughout Europe.

Thursday 17 March 2011

Factory Media Acquires RoadCyclingUK.com and BikeMagic.com

Commercial deal pushes Factory digital bike network to one million fans

London, 17 March 2011: Europe’s largest action sports media owner, Factory Media, today announced the completion of the agreement to acquire RoadCyclingUK.com and BikeMagic.com from Magicalia Limited – the deal will give the media owner an online reach of one million cycling, mountain bike and BMX enthusiasts.

The deal will further strengthen Factory Media’s position in the online bike sector, supplementing brands such as MPORA.com, Dirt Mountain Bike, The Bicycle Buyer and BMX brands RideUK and Dig.

Factory Media Managing Director, Darryl Newton, said: “The acquisition of RoadCyclingUK and BikeMagic has increased Factory Media’s online bike audience to more than one million enthusiasts each month. The network now delivers the broadest reach in the market – more than any other media owner – with our coverage of Road, Gravity, BMX, Cross Country and Urban. We’re very excited about the opportunity that this deal brings to our Company and the teams involved.”

Factory currently own a series of bike media brands including MPORA.com, Dirt Mountain Bike, Ride UK BMX and Dig BMX. Road Cycling UK and Bike Magic will push the Factory bike audience to 1 million unique users. Factory’s MPORA.com is the UK’s largest bike video platform, and streams up to 2 Million videos each month.

About Factory Media:

Factory Media publishes 25 digital and 19 consumer magazine brands in six languages across the mountain bike, cycle, BMX, surf, snow, ski, windsurf, skateboard and motocross markets. Its digital network, a vast sports resource headlined by aggregate portal MPORA.com, majors in video content, product reviews, news and social media functionality. For more information about Factory Media, go to factorymedia.com and MPORA.com, or contact Darryl Newton, Managing Director on 020 7332 9700.

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Thursday 3 March 2011

Commercial deal pushes Factory digital bike network to one million fans

Europe’s largest action sports media owner, Factory Media, today announced it is in the final stages of acquiring RoadCyclingUK.com and BikeMagic.com from Magicalia Limited – the deal will give the media owner an online reach of one million cycling, mountain bike and BMX enthusiasts.

The two Companies have informed staff at Magicalia’s two bicycle websites of the intention for the businesses to complete the transaction later this month. The deal will further strengthen Factory Media’s position in the online bike sector, supplementing brands such as MPORA.com, Dirt Mountain Bike, The Bicycle Buyer and BMX brands RideUK and Dig.

Factory Media Managing Director, Darryl Newton, said: “The acquisition of RoadCyclingUK and BikeMagic increases our online bike audience to more than one million enthusiasts each month. Our network also now delivers the broadest reach in the market – more than any other media owner – with our coverage of Road, Gravity, BMX, Cross Country and Urban. We’re very excited about the opportunity that this deal brings to our Company and the teams involved.”

Factory currently own a series of bike media brands including MPORA.com, Dirt Mountain Bike, Ride UK BMX and Dig BMX. Road Cycling UK and Bike Magic will push the Factory bike audience to 1 million unique users. Factory’s MPORA.com is the UK’s largest bike video platform, and streams up to 2 Million videos each month.

Magicalia CEO, Tom Bureau, said: “Magicalia is focusing its media portfolio on Number 1 online market positions. Whilst it is a difficult decision to exit cycling, this deal will allow us to accelerate our investment in those markets that offer us the biggest opportunity for growth, such as parenting, golf, outdoors and motorcycling.”

About Factory Media:

Factory Media currently publishes 23 digital and 19 consumer magazine brands in six languages across the mountain bike, cycle, BMX, surf, snow, ski, windsurf, skateboard and motocross markets. Its digital network, a vast sports resource headlined by aggregate portal MPORA.com, majors in video content, product reviews, news and social media functionality. For more information about Factory Media, go to factorymedia.com and MPORA.com, or contact Darryl Newton, Managing Director on 020 7332 9700.

About Magicalia

Magicalia, AOP specialist consumer publisher 2010, publish over 70 special interest and eCommerce websites, reaching in excess of 2m unique users every month in its core markets of Parenting, Motorcycling, Golf and Outdoors.

Its website publishing platform is licensed to premium publishers such as NatMags and its eCommerce solution powers over 60 online retailers.

For more information on Magicalia visit www.magicalia.com or contact Tom Bureau, CEO, at tom.bureau@magicalia.com, 07714 237575.

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If you are interested in becoming an intern send your CV and covering letter to jobs@factorymedia.com, and detail whether you are interested in a position within Editorial, Sales, Marketing, Design or Online. We ask that all interns commit to a minimum of three months. Internships are unpaid, although expenses will be paid to and from work.

Factory Media fuehrt etliche Praktika-Programme in London, Muenchen, Koeln und Anglet durch.

Wenn Sie an einem Praktikumsplatz interessiert sind, schicken Sie ihren Lebenslauf und ein Bewerbungsschreiben an jobs@factorymedia.com. Bitte machen Sie deutlich, ob Sie an einem Praktikum im Bereich Redaktion, Verkauf, Marketing, Design oder Online interessiert sind. Wir bitten alle Praktikanten um eine dreimonatige Anstellung. Praktika werden nicht bezahlt, allerdings decken wir Fahrtkosten zum Buero.

Apply for this role

The media assets acquired consist of six consumer magazines and six websites, reaching hundreds of thousands of German action sports fans: Surfers (www.surfersmag.de), Moto X (www.motoxmag.de), Skiing (www.skiing.de), Snowboarder MBM (www.snowboardermbm.de), Freedom BMX (www.freedombmx.de) and Skateboard MSM (www.skateboardmsm.de).

The deal marks an exciting expansion for Factory Media as it continues to dominate the market for action sports media in both digital and print media. The additional brands will boost Factory Media’s total assets to 19 print magazines and 23 websites, published in six languages.

The German market has long been the heart of participation and commerce in action sports, and the acquisition will give Factory Media an even bigger platform for its online portal MPORA.com. MPORA.com majors in video content, picture sharing and community functionality and is utilised by over 5000 other websites around the world. It currently reaches four million unique users per month and the German version MPORA.de is now expected to add a further two million consumers to the platform.

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