UK – Grand Designs Live owner Media 10 says acquiring the Ideal Home Show was a “no brainer” following the deal for an undisclosed sum involving DMG World Media.
The Ideal Home Show, which takes place at Earls Court, has hosted over 60 million visitors since its inception in 1908 but has suffered dwindling visitor numbers in recent years. Over 167,000 fewer visitors attended the show in 2007 compared to the 2002 attendance.
But speaking to EW after the sale of the 101-year-old homes and gardens consumer exhibition, MD Lee Newton said: “We will re-establish the show quickly, Media 10 is a small company, we make decisions quickly and we also change our minds very quickly.
“Media 10 is wholly-owned by ourselves, it is our money we are gambling with and we are 110 per cent sure this is going to work, we wouldn't risk our reputation if we had any doubts.”
The Ideal Home Show sale, brokered by Mayfield Media, means the company now has the largest home interest events portfolio in the UK, and Grand Designs Live has now been sold into South Africa. Newton says he will “re-define” the Ideal Home Show and return the former UK market leader to its past glory.
DMG World Media had made no secret of its desire to shed the exhibition, which was trading at a loss, after recently announcing that consumer shows were no longer part of its strategy.
The company sold the majority of its UK-based events business to publishing and exhibitions company Quartz Business Media in August, which included nine of DMG's 17 events and nine of its 12 publications in the industrial-based chemicals, glass, metals, coatings and commodities sectors.
