Led by a huge jump in revenue from its television production division, total sales at IDW Media Holdings rose 32.2% in the fiscal year ended October 31, 2016 over fiscal 2015, hitting $65.3 million. Net income rose to $3.7 million from $3.1 million in fiscal 2015.
Revenue in the company’s IDW publishing group in fiscal 2016, however, slipped 2.3%, to $27.9 million. The publishing group includes IDW’s comic book and graphic novel publishing operations as well as games business.
In its filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, IDW attributed the dip in publishing revenue to general softness in the comic book publishing industry, fewer blockbuster titles, timing of when new titles were released, and competitive pressure from the major publishers.
The company reported that its publishing group’s direct and non-direct publishing revenue decreased by $455,000 in the year, other publishing revenue fell $1.2 million—principally due to the timing of IDW’s publication of specialty books—and digital revenue dropped $210,000. The declines were offset by growth in licensing revenue of $1.1 million, an increase in games revenue of $383,000, and a net decrease in other revenue categories of $231,000, the company said.
The publishing division finished the year with strong results with sales up 15.8%, to $9.4 million in the fourth quarter ended October 31, 2016, compared to the final quarter of fiscal 2015. IDW said the improvement was due to the success of its March books, plus sales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles board game.
