In 2019, with a soft advertising market, the digital media landscape is largely bereft of hungry buyers. But in late March, radio giant Salem Media Group quietly disclosed the purchase of a sixth digital media company, PJ Media, for just $100,000. Salem’s conservative-leaning digital arm, Townhall Media, now reaches more than 15 million unique visitors a month, and is a “nicely profitable business,” says Dave Evans, who leads new media and book publishing for Salem.
Salem, based in Camarillo, California, has grown in political influence by snapping up digital properties from partisans like Michelle Malkin (Twitchy, Hot Air) while adding pro-Trump radio voices like former Fox News contributor Sebastian Gorka, which may help the company compete with titans iHeartRadio (home to Rush Limbaugh) and Westwood One (featuring Mark Levin). “We…