Wyvern Media
The Wyvern Media Group is one of the UK’s largest independently owned regional print media companies. It is a community media company active in the fields of regional newspapers, special interest magazines, internet communications and print finishing. All its titles serve clearly defined communities, based around locations or interest groups.
Wyvern Media can trace its routes back almost 30 years and today remains a vibrant and innovative company despite its growth, which now sees it have offices in 10 locations throughout the UK. Established in 1984, it’s seen steady growth that is a testament to the drive and ambition of its directors and the dedication of its workforce. Today it employs 250 people nationwide with its headquarters based in Derby. The newspaper stable produces 28 mainly weekly titles, some free, some that are sold as well as special interest magazines and websites.
The ethos behind the group is to offer its readers an informative and entertaining read, and to give advertisers genuine value for money. The hope is to give a cost effective alternative to some of the more established regional titles. Its publications are renowned for being upmarket and have a tradition of highly respected editorial content. The aim is to give unrivalled local coverage of its target region and to provide an ideal outlet to reach a broad readership.
Wyvern was established by its founder and current Managing Director, Jon Rivers in Derby in 1984 and quickly opened regional offices in Leamington Spa and Nottingham. Wyvern moved to its current modern headquarters from its old city centre based head office in 2009. The Coventry office opened in 1997 and is now located over 2 floors in Charterland House in Coventry city centre. The south west operation was launched by Martin Sanders in Bristol in 1996 and now has further offices in Taunton, Gloucester and Weston Super Mare. Wyvern Media South is run by Jo Spicer, who is responsible for several titles from its offices at High Street in Slough. The office in Rugby in Warwickshire is run by Tom Chamberlain and Matthew Walker. Despite it being a difficult climate for regional newspapers to operate in it’s enjoyed great success and has recently moved to larger premises in Rugby.
The growth of the Wyvern Media Group and its continued success in a difficult climate is in part due to its policy of operating media partnerships. This is a policy of going into business with its brightest and best employees. All the titles under the Wyvern banner are owner run, by a sales director, together with other board members within the group. As with any new business venture some fail, but very few Wyvern titles have succumbed to a recession which for the regional newspaper sector has been devastating.
Wyvern Media has plans for further expansion as the Wyvern brand continues to grow. After a difficult couple of years the group has emerged a leaner and more flexible company, with plans for more online diversification through its Media Today Online brand and further regional titles as the group continues to grow.