New Year Brings a Welcome Merger…and the Expectation of More to Come

Georgia’s English language newspaper market is facing a significant change as two independent English language newspapers, Georgia Today and Georgian Journal, announce a merger in the last week of 2015.

English language newspaper Georgian Journal, published by ‘Palitra Media,’ is to become part of Georgia Today. The latter will keep its twice weekly publications - Georgia Today on Fridays and Georgia Today/Business on Tuesdays, with an increased page volume - while Georgian Journal will become a purely online media source under its previous name.

Irakli Tevdorashvili, Publisher of Georgian Journal: I am sure that both our readers and partner companies will support our decision and accept it positively. The merger will help us to fully concentrate on one product through joint efforts, optimized resources and shared experience in the newspaper publishing business. As a result, Georgia Today will not only keep its leading position but will increase its market share to present a more advanced and more interesting product to its target audience.

George Sharashidze, Publisher & General Manager of Georgia Today: This change will definitely affect Georgia’s English language media market. Georgia Today, with its fifteen years market presence, was objectively considered as the leading English language newspaper in Georgia. However, the merger with Georgian Journal will give us an increased opportunity to improve the newspaper quality, both in terms of content and distribution. Thus, our partner companies will benefit from the best advertising platform with no alternative of such quality and efficiency in the country.

The recent merger follows on from a rebranding and redesign by Georgia Today late autumn, as well as the move to expand readership by introducing the new weekly Georgia Today/Business edition, covering the latest economics, law and business news and analysis, in addition to the general news coverage offered on Fridays.

From 2016, Georgia Today will also be presenting:

WHERE.ge: Each foreign visitor to Georgia, both tourists and business travelers, will be equipped with the new comprehensive tourist guide, WHERE.ge, unique in content and distribution network. Accessible throughout Georgia’s HORECA, WHERE.ge will assist tourists to plan their holidays and adventure tours with more practical and up-to-date information though both print and online content.

Katie Ruth Davies