Irving-based Nexstar Media has acquired The Hill, one of America’s leading political digital media platforms, for $130 million.
The Hill attracted 48 million average monthly users and 2.2 billion total pageviews in 2020, according to Comscore. It also had 914 million video views on Twitter.
More than 100 journalists work at The Hill, which will now complement Nexstar’s cable news network, NewsNation, and its local news reporting platform featuring 5,500 journalists nationwide.
The Hill and NewsNation rank as two of the most centrist leading news outlets in the U.S., according to the Ad Fontes Media Bias Chart.
Nexstar’s biggest move in recent years was its 2018 acquisition of Tribune Media Company for $4.1 billion in cash, which made it America’s largest regional TV station operator.
Nexstar President and COO Tom Carter said in a statement that the acquisition “marks continued progress with Nexstar’s ‘content-first strategy’ and reflects our organization-wide commitment to deliver trusted, unbiased, fact-based journalism that engages and informs our audiences across all screens and devices.”
“The Hill acquisition presents [Nexstar] with a fast-growing and profitable political digital news platform,” Carter added. “The Hill marks the second digital transaction under our ‘content first’ strategy, following the December 2020 acquisition of BestReviews, which is already benefiting from its incorporation into Nexstar’s digital network.”
Carter says Nexstar will continue to focus on strategic digital investments to help scale its content offerings.
Jimmy Finkelstein, chairman of The Hill, said in the statement that “It has been an honor to lead and transform The Hill into the premier news outlet that it is today. With the help of HRS Management [The Hill’s largest investor], we have substantially grown the business and audience. We are confident that Nexstar will continue to accelerate this tremendous growth.”
Karen Brophy, Nexstar’s president of digital, said the combined digital network will offer “an extremely valuable, brand-safe environment for issue and other advertisers to reach a growing digital audience of informed, intent-oriented consumers.”
“As the nation’s largest local broadcast and media company, Nexstar is ideally positioned to accelerate The Hill’s growth and further penetrate the massive political news market to grow audience share and drive increased content monetization,” Brophy added.
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