• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, August 4, 2015

Time Inc. has had a tough first year as an independent company, tackling the ongoing challenge of reinventing itself for the digital media age amid continuing declines in the legacy print publishing business.

The second quarter of 2015 offered no respite from the latter trend. But it also saw plenty of progress on the former, leading chairman and CEO Joe Ripp to express optimism that the nation’s largest magazine publisher would turn the corner in the not-too-distant future.

Total revenues declined 5.8% from $820 million in the second quarter of 2014 to $773 million in the second quarter of 2015, Time Inc. announced. That is partly due to the U.S. dollar rising relative to the British pound, as well as the end of the company’s partnership with CNNMoney.com, among other events.

Excluding these factors total revenues would have been down 4%.

The overall drop was due to a 9% decline in advertising revenues over this period, from $420 million to $379 million; again, excluding the factors mentioned above ad revenues would have been down 4%. Print ad revenues fell 11% from $343 million to $299 million, or 9% when the same factors are taken into account. Digital ad revenues jumped 28% to $77 million, due mostly to video and programmatic ad sales.

Circulation revenues slipped 2% from $254 million to $250 million, or 3% when adjusted for currency fluctuations and terminated businesses.

Ripp stated the company was confident it could "fundamentally re-engineer the business and reposition our company for its return to growth. 2015 continues to be a pivotal year as we launch a portfolio of growth initiatives and invest to develop new revenue streams, including through key acquisitions.” However, 2015 will see another round of declines, according to the company’s most recent guidance, which forecasts an annual revenue decline of 1.5% to 4.5% for the full year.

Earlier this week, Time Inc. announced the expansion of its “programmatic print” offering by introducing a dozen new audience categories that can be targeted via print advertising. Among Time’s new categories are beauty, family, travelers, fashion followers, foodies, health-conscious, influentials, moms, pets, tech savvy, sports enthusiasts and more.