Digital revenue at Reach is up 2% in 2025 so far despite a drop in Google traffic referrals, according to the publisher’s third-quarter trading update.
Print revenue (which makes up around three-quarters of the total) fell by 3.9% in the three-month period meaning overall revenue for the UK’s biggest consumer news publisher was down 2.5%.
Reach is on track to record its fifth successive year of revenue decline (last year turnover fell 4.2% to £539m).
The Reach share price fell 3.4% in the hours after the trading update, suggesting the picture was gloomier than the market had anticipated. The company currently has a market value of £198m (which is just over twice last year’s operating profit).
Indirect revenue, which includes revenue share from advertising on social media platforms and programmatic website advertising, was the only category to see growth, up 4% in Q3 or 7.3% in the first nine months of 2025 when compared to the same period last year.
Direct revenue (including direct-sold advertising, subscriptions and e-commerce) was down 0.8% in Q3 and 5.5% in the year so far amid a “weaker environment” in local markets, meaning overall digital revenue was up 2.1% and 1.9% respectively.
Reach publishes national brands the Mirror, Express and Daily Star and regionals ranging from the Manchester Evening News and Liverpool Echo to Devon Live and Surrey Live.
In Q3, the update noted, Reach newsbrands saw lower referrals from platforms, especially Google amid the arrival of AI Overviews and AI Mode affecting clickthroughs to websites from search and a core algorithm update that affected many publishers, including their Discover referrals, in June.
This meant a 1% drop in page views across the nine-month period, in turn impacting programmatic advertising revenue.
Digital revenue is expected to be “broadly flat” compared to 2024, “reflecting the ongoing volatility in referral volumes and weak macroeconomic backdrop”.
Reach is set to launch its first digital subscriptions under a new pilot “in the coming weeks”, under plans first announced in its H1 results in July.
The publisher has just hired its first head of digital subscriptions: Harry Fawkes, previously head of digital subscriptions, marketing and business data at The i Paper.
Last month Reach began what was described as the “biggest reorganisation” it has ever undertaken, with plans to make 321 editorial redundancies and create 135 new roles.
Many of the new roles are in video production and its newly-created live news network model of journalists based around the country covering breaking news, events and diary stories for the portfolio of newsbrands.
Reach said on Tuesday that the restructuring is also putting focus on “developing new commercial propositions, and driving growth in off-platform audiences”.
It added that restructuring costs in 2025 are expected to total about £20m and that it is on track to deliver a cost saving target of 4-5%.
The publisher said it remains “confident” that it will meet market expectations for the year, meaning operating profit of £99.1m (compared to £102.3m in 2024 and £96.5m in 2023).
Chief executive Piers North said: “We delivered a good financial performance despite continued volatility in referral volume and we made strong progress across our strategic priorities; including the creation of new video teams in the newsrooms, new video launches such as the Daily Expresso and All Out Football, and an increase in branded video revenue.
“We also delivered continued success in our diversified revenues including the OK! Beauty Box and are now working at pace on further initiatives, launching our digital subscriptions pilot in the coming weeks.”
Print revenue was down 3.9% in Q3 and 4.5% in the year so far, with advertising particularly hit (down 13.3% and 14.7% respectively) and circulation declining by a smaller proportion (down 2.7% and 3.4%). Reach said print is still “a reliable and predictable revenue stream”.
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