The Daily Mirror’s owner has slumped to its biggest loss in more than a decade after a collapse in Google traffic led to a steep drop in digital readership.
Reach, formerly known as Trinity Mirror, fell £165m into the red after warning of a “sharp decline in referral traffic” from the search giant.
The loss, which reversed a £63m profit last year, was driven by a £223m impairment charge following a decline in visitors from Google’s search engine, which cut growth forecasts.
“The unhelpful referrer and macro environments have tempered our view on digital growth over the near term,” said Piers North, Reach’s chief executive.
The loss for the publisher of the Daily Mirror, Express and dozens of regional newspapers is the deepest of the Reach era.
The business was rebranded from Trinity Mirror in 2018 after the purchase of the Express titles from media mogul Richard Desmond. Trinity Mirror last reported a similar-sized loss in 2014, when it fell £160m into the red.
The company has been grappling with Google’s shifting algorithm, which has threatened traffic to free-to-read websites.
Google’s introduction of “AI Overviews”, which give short descriptions of news topics, has left media sites scrambling to attract visitors as more readers turn to the search engine for information or advice.
Data from Ipsos for January showed that Reach had suffered a collapse in page views for some of its biggest local titles, which have suffered from Google’s AI shift.
Page views of Surrey Live tumbled almost 85pc, Leeds Live’s page views fell by 77pc, and Bristol Live dropped just under 70pc.
Despite the falls, Reach hailed its own use of AI, claiming that a tool called “Guten”, which rehashes stories from across its titles, is used for 26pc of its articles.
The publisher has been forced to push into subscriptions for its red top and regional papers, adding premium subscriptions to titles including the Manchester Evening News, Liverpool Echo and WalesOnline.
Reach said it had so far seen about 15,000 subscribers to its premium subscription products and was targeting about 75,000 digital subscribers this year.
Last September, Reach announced 321 job cuts, including 186 editorial roles. At the time, it said it intended to create 135 new jobs, mainly in video production.
Unions have claimed that Reach’s decision to shut most of its printing presses has put more than 250 jobs at risk.
Sharon Graham, the Unite general secretary, said: “It is completely wrong that Reach is intent on making skilled print workers redundant, especially as its financial success was built on their backs.”
