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Crocmedia acquires AFL products in $8.1 million deal

Written by MOS Editorial Team

Published on 29 July 2018

The AFL has sold the football record and its related products to Crocmedia in an $8.1 million deal.

Starting in 2019, Crocmedia will produce all weekly match-day magazine content, including the AFL match day Record, AFLW publications, the AFL Season Guide, JLT Community Series, AFLX, International Rules Series, along with the AFL Finals and Toyota AFL Grand Final editions of the Record.

The $8.1 million purchase price includes $5.85m cash and $2.25m prepaid advertising to be retained by the AFL, with the agreement including the licensing of AFL trademarks.

AFL general manager of commercial Kylie Rogers said the agreement would ensure the Record’s prominent part in fans’ match-day experience.

“The AFL Record is an essential part of the experience of attending a footy match,” Rogers said.

“Crocmedia is a leader in content production and publishing (and) they will ensure the AFL Record continues to evolve, grow and succeed.”

Crocmedia chief executive Craig Hutchison said his company wanted to deepen its AFL association and this investment fits into that ambition.

“The AFL Record is one of the oldest magazines in Australia, so it’s a great privilege to become its custodian into the future,” Hutchison said.

“It complements our broader suite of AFL assets, including our flagship AFL Nation game-day call, and allows us exciting opportunities to integrate our brand partners across multiple touchpoints to connect with footy fans.

“We have aspirations to grow the Record’s reach while honouring its iconic past.

“We’ll continue to ensure that footy fans get all the insight, team stats, match previews and exclusive features that they’ve come to know and love – and that it remains a much-loved part of our footy fabric.”

Crocmedia is entitled to all AFL Record profits from round nine this year.

AFL Media, which has published the Record for the past seven years, will continue to produce the football magazine and associated publications until the 2018 Grand Final edition.