M.E.N. PARENT COMPANY 'REACH' SUFFERS SIGNIFICANT LOSSES FROM FACEBOOK’S MOVE AWAY FROM NEWS CONTENT

Reach, the parent company and publisher of news titles such as the Daily Mirror and Daily Express as well as more locally the Manchester Evening News, has reported a 24% drop in first-half adjusted operating profit as a result of Facebook’s move away from news content and a tough market for print advertising.

The company said it would cut costs to improve its performance in the second half, allowing it to maintain profit expectations.

Chief Executive Jim Mullen said digital revenue, which fell 16% to £60.8 million , had been “materially affected” by lower referral traffic, particularly after Facebook deprioritised news content.

Facebook’s decision in April to shut down Instant Articles, a mobile-friendly format that quickly loaded news articles on the Facebook app led to a “significant decrease” in readers referred to its news sites.

However, Mr Mullen claimed Reach's focus on its own customer data was increasing its exposure to directly sold, higher value advertising.

Print revenue declined 2.7% to 217.3 million pounds after cover price increases largely offset advertising declines, the company said. It added that newsprint costs had started to fall, which would help reduce costs in the second half.

Reach said full-year profits for 2023 were expected to be in line with market consensus given cost savings that would mainly boost its financial position in the second half of the year.

Salford Media is not affected by the changes at Facebook as it is ran as a not for profit Community Interest Company (CIC), with any revenue generated being applied to build local news and media within the City as well as support local people and good causes. We have taken great strides to ensure our overall operating costs are the bare minimum required and all of our content is generated by volunteer journalists and photographers.