From Print Giants to Tech Frontiers: 4 Surprising Truths About the Big Medya Transformation

For years, the narrative surrounding legacy print media has been a monotonous eulogy of managed decline. Skeptics have long viewed traditional magazine publishers as relics of a pre-digital age, burdened by technical debt and struggling to maintain relevance in an era of instant algorithmic feeds. However, the 2025 Activity Report from Big Medya Teknoloji A.Ş. suggests that the rumors of the industry’s demise were not just premature—they missed the radical metamorphosis occurring in the engine room.

Formerly known as Doğan Burda, the company is no longer content with merely occupying space on a newsstand. Over the last fiscal year, it has executed a profound structural pivot, repositioning itself at the precarious intersection of traditional storytelling and high-stakes research and development. This is not a superficial digital facelift; it is a fundamental rewiring of the corporate DNA, shifting the value proposition from content consumption to contextual data monetization.

As we dissect the 2025 performance data, it becomes clear that Big Medya’s trajectory serves as a “canary in the coal mine” for the entire media stack. It provides a blueprint where legacy brands survive not by abandoning their roots, but by utilizing their massive reach as training data for a new frontier of AI and software engineering.

1. The Rebranding: A Strategic Offensive

The most visible signal of this shift occurred on September 17, 2025, when an Extraordinary General Assembly sanctioned a symbolic and operational break from the past. The company shed the title Doğan Burda Dergi Yayıncılık ve Pazarlama A.Ş. in favor of Big Medya Teknoloji A.Ş.

This was the opening salvo of a unified strategic offensive. By stripping “Dergi” (Magazine) and “Yayıncılık” (Publishing) from its name, the firm signaled that its future would be dictated by code, not kiosks. This transition was codified on November 27, 2025, with the approved merger of Wisest Yazılım A.Ş., an R&D powerhouse that brought advanced software capabilities directly onto the balance sheet.

“The title of the Company… has been changed to ‘Big Medya Teknoloji Anonim Şirketi’ as per the decision of the Extraordinary General Assembly… This change reflects our commitment to integrating advanced technology as the core driver of our business model.”

2. The Billion-Lira Balance Sheet: Deconstructing the Merger

From an analyst’s perspective, the 2025 financial statements present a striking paradox: a tightening core business alongside a massive expansion of the asset base. While the company reported a net loss of 64.5 million TRY for the period, the balance sheet underwent a transformation that fundamentally altered the firm’s valuation.

This 433% asset explosion is a classic display of “Merger Accounting” in action. Of the total growth, 1.161 billion TRY is attributed specifically to “Maddi ve Maddi Olmayan Duran Varlıklar” (Tangible and Intangible Assets) stemming directly from the Wisest Yazılım merger.

The analytical “bite” lies in the margins: the Brüt Satış Karı (Gross Profit) dropped from 345 million TRY to 195 million TRY, reflecting the pressure on the traditional print business. However, the surge in intangibles indicates that Big Medya is effectively trading short-term liquid profits for long-term intellectual property and technological infrastructure.

3. The R&D Engine: From Content to Context

The most compelling aspect of Big Medya’s 2025 report is its R&D portfolio, which looks less like a publisher’s plan and more like a Smart City integration strategy. By leveraging the audience data from its legacy moat, the company is building a high-tech stack designed to predict market behavior rather than just report on it.

Key innovative projects currently in development include:

• SMETT (Social Media, Interaction and Trend Prediction Platform): This isn’t just a monitoring tool. It utilizes LSTM, ARIMA, and Prophet algorithms to analyze social media flows and forecast behavioral trends, providing sophisticated decision support through time-series modeling.
• UYARSIS (Warning and Perception Management System): An early warning system that employs NLP and machine learning to analyze sentiment across digital platforms, detecting market crises or brand shifts before they manifest in the mainstream.
• SOCINT (Social Intelligence Supported Content Monitoring): An AI-driven engine that optimizes content strategies by analyzing real-time visibility and engagement, essentially automating the editor’s “gut feeling” with hard data.

Perhaps most surprising is the pivot into Smart City systems and Traffic Optimization. By developing tools that analyze traffic density via camera feeds to optimize signalization, Big Medya is proving its new thesis: if you can understand how people move and think in a digital space, you can apply those same data-science principles to the physical infrastructure of a city.

4. B2B Signals: The 1.3 Million Sale Benchmark

Despite the aggressive technological pivot, Big Medya remains the undisputed titan of the Turkish physical press. The company maintains a portfolio of 79 publications, including high-value B2B titles like Capital and Ekonomist, alongside global lifestyle giants like Elle and Hello!.

While the industry narrative predicts a collapse, Big Medya’s print footprint remains remarkably resilient. Circulation dipped marginally from 1.4 million copies in 2024 to 1.3 million in 2025, yet the company retained its dominant market leadership.

“It is calculated that the Company continues its leadership in the printed market (Basılı pazar).”

For a Strategic Media Analyst, these 79 titles are no longer just revenue streams; they are high-value data sensors. Titles like Capital and Ekonomist serve as B2B signals that can feed the SMETT and UYARSIS algorithms, providing the “ground truth” data required to train the company’s emerging AI tools.

Conclusion: The Blueprint for Media Survival?

The 2025 Activity Report marks the birth of a new species of media company. Big Medya is no longer a magazine house; it is a technology firm that happens to own a powerful portfolio of magazines. By merging with an R&D powerhouse and aggressively pursuing Smart City and NLP technologies, they have insulated themselves against the volatility of the traditional ad market.

This leaves us with a provocative question for the global media landscape: Is the only path to survival for legacy brands to become the software that manages the world they once merely described? As Big Medya navigates this new frontier, its “Billion-Lira Balance Sheet” may well become the standard blueprint for any media entity hoping to survive the AI epoch.

Big Medya Teknoloji A.Ş. 2025 Activity Report Briefing

Executive Summary

The 2025 fiscal year marks a pivotal transition for Big Medya Teknoloji A.Ş. (formerly Doğan Burda Dergi Yayıncılık ve Pazarlama A.Ş.) as it shifts from a traditional print media powerhouse toward a technology-driven media conglomerate. Following a significant change in ownership and a subsequent name change in September 2025, the company has integrated Wisest Yazılım A.Ş. to bolster its research and development (R&D) capabilities in artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and smart city technologies.

Financially, the company reported a net loss of 64.58 million TL for the period ending December 31, 2025, an increase from the 22.86 million TL loss in 2024. Despite this, the company maintains a dominant market share in the Turkish magazine sector with 79 active publications and a circulation of 1.3 million units. The strategic focus has moved toward diversifying revenue streams through digital transformation, software development, and specialized tech projects while managing the operational risks associated with a fluctuating economic environment.

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1. Company Profile and Strategic Evolution

1.1 Corporate Identity and Ownership

• Name Change: On September 17, 2025, the company officially changed its name from Doğan Burda Dergi Yayıncılık ve Pazarlama A.Ş. to Big Medya Teknoloji A.Ş.
• Ownership Structure: As of December 31, 2025, major shareholders include:
  • Re-Pie Yatırım Holding A.Ş.: 15.88%
  • Alt Capital Holding Anonim Şirketi: 13.86%
  • Muhammet Görkem Kuşçu: 42.15%
  • Publicly traded on BIST: 21.38%
• Subsidiaries: The company holds 100% of Big Dijital, which provides magazine marketing and planning services.

1.2 Strategic Pivot to Technology

The merger with Wisest Yazılım A.Ş. has redefined the company’s business model. Big Medya is now active in:

• Software development for smart cities and AI.
• Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) solutions.
• Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) security systems and cyber security.
• Big data analytics and cloud technologies.

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2. Media Portfolio and Market Position

Big Medya remains a leader in the Turkish magazine market, maintaining a diverse portfolio across multiple segments.

Operational Performance

• Circulation: Reached 1.3 million units in 2025 (down from 1.4 million in 2024).
• Market Share: The company maintains its leadership in the printed magazine market.
• Advertising: Advertising revenue totaled 398.2 million TL. While the company maintains market leadership, this reflects a 23% indexed decrease compared to 2024 (514.5 million TL).

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3. Financial Performance and Analysis

The 2025 financial results reflect a period of high investment and structural adjustment.

3.1 Key Financial Indicators (Consolidated)

All figures in thousands of TL unless otherwise noted.

3.2 Analysis of Losses

The increase in net loss is attributed to:

• A decrease in advertising and circulation revenues.
• Increased operational expenses related to the technology pivot.
• Foreign exchange fluctuations impacting licensing and raw material costs.
• A decrease in interest income despite higher financial income from investments.

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4. Research and Development (R&D) Projects

Following the acquisition of Wisest Yazılım, the company is developing several high-tech platforms:

• SMETT: A social media and digital platform modeling tool using NLP and time-series modeling for behavior projection.
• UYARSIS: An AI-based warning and perception management system that analyzes digital footprints to detect crises or brand perception shifts.
• SOCINT: A digital visibility and communication strategy platform for individuals and brands.
• Traffic Optimization: A camera-integrated system for real-time traffic density analysis and light synchronization.
• Smart Visitor/Security System: A system using AI and big data for behavioral monitoring and security in physical locations.

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5. Corporate Governance and Risk Management

5.1 Board of Directors

The board is led by Mehmet Emre Çamlıbel (Chairman). The company operates with a high adherence to Corporate Governance Principles, with a 25% female representation on the board (2 out of 8 members).

5.2 Risk Factors

The company identifies several critical risks managed by the Early Risk Detection Committee:

• Financial Risk: Exposure to currency exchange rates and interest rate volatility.
• Operational Risk: Fluctuations in paper and licensing costs.
• Digital Transformation Risk: The need to successfully transition traditional readers to digital platforms while maintaining quality.

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6. Personnel and Social Responsibility

• Headcount: The group employed 191 personnel as of year-end 2025 (up from 175 in 2024).
• Social Projects: The company donated 1.45 million TL toward environmental, social, and cultural projects in 2025.
• Training: Employees received specialized training in various fields, including a program for 60 employees on “Commercial Advertisements and Unfair Trade Practices.”

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7. Significant Post-Period Events

• Management Changes: On January 13, 2026, Melih Cem Başar concluded his role as General Manager; Muhammet Görkem Kuşçu was appointed as his replacement.
• Financial Approval: The consolidated financial statements for the 2025 period were approved by the Board of Directors on February 13, 2026.
• Independent Audit: Deneyim Bağımsız Denetim ve Danışmanlık A.Ş. provided a positive (unqualified) opinion on the 2025 financial statements.