Reach Cuts 220 Editorial Jobs, Closes 3 Brands as Google Traffic Drops 46%
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Sep 16
Reach Cuts 220 Editorial Jobs, Closes 3 Brands as Google Traffic Drops 46%
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Sep 16
Summary
220 editorial jobs will go at Reach, which is also shutting KentLive, AberdeenLive and GalwayBeo while creating about 60 roles focused on digital revenue growth.
A 46% year-on-year drop in Google traffic helped drive the overhaul, as AI Overviews and AI Mode increasingly answer readers’ queries without sending them through to publishers’ sites.
£128.9 million in digital revenue fell almost 1% in the year to March 3, pushing Reach to prioritize subscriptions, longer-form video and “active engaged time” over raw page views.
50,000 paid digital subscribers leave Reach short of its 75,000 target for the current financial year, after a September restructure already put 600 roles at risk and cut more than 300 editorial jobs.
Reach, whose shares have fallen 90% in five years, said the latest cuts reflect a broader shift in local news economics that it also blames partly on the BBC’s expanding local output.