Our story
Let us tell you a story…
Friday Media Group as we know it today stemmed from our original flagship brand.
‘The Friday-Ad’ was born in 1975 when we launched the UK’s first free classified paper in Sussex . It came about after founders Chris and Liz Kidger needed to sell their car, but realised there was nowhere for them to advertise it. This inspired them to begin printing a 2 sided paper for all the locals to advertise their goods. This rapidly grew into a 12 page publication within a year.
Chris and Liz loved the idea of bringing buyers and sellers together in a simple, low-cost way.
With the growth of the Internet, our online platform Friday-Ad.co.uk launched in 1994, and those same core values never disappeared. This soon became one of the UK’s leading classified websites. This online revolution initiated a new beginning and the birth of Friday Media Group, where we rapidly expanded into other classifieds in niche markets, and later onto recruitment, e-commerce and retail. Our brands have now traveled across 3 continents, and FMG offices can be found in Bangalore, Barcelona and Miami. Friday Media Group has firmly remained a family business, and is always looking for new ways to help people and their businesses to grow in a world of every-changing technology…what will be next for FMG?
The 70s and 80s – it all started with print
1974
Husband and Wife, Chris and Liz needed to sell their car, but realised there was no place to advertise it!
1975
First edition of Friday-Ad was born
1976
The 4 pages became 12 pages
1977
The 12 pages became 42 and the first Friday Ad shop opened
1978
We order first newspaper press and rent our first factory
1979
35 shops open across the country
The 80s onwards – the digital revolution
1983
The revolutionary Internet was born
1988
Head office moves to larger premises
1994
We launch www.friday-ad.co.uk, the first website in the UK to have an online ‘place an ad’ system
1997
The first wireless internet was created known as WIFI
1998
Google founded by Larry Page & Sergey Brin
The 00s – we expand
2002
.With new machinery we now print 70 weekly publications. Open first call centre in South Wales. We launch Friday Ad in sunny Spain
2003
We now have 500 employees
2004
Rise in the internet results in 35 shop closures
2004-12
We launch 10 small online acquisitions in niche markets
2005
With our online brands growing, we open office in Barcelona and Berlin
2007
Steve Jobs launches the first Apple iPhone
2009
We launch our equine and boats brands in the states, Miami office opens.
2017
We open new office in India, where new tech hub is based
