Credit: Karolina Grabowska on Pexels Reach, the publisher of the Daily Mirror, the Daily Express, and several regional newspapers, is cutting 220 editorial jobs and closing three local news websites. The company says this is because Google now answers more questions with AI, leading to a sharp drop in website traffic. According to The Guardian, chief content officer David Higgerson told staff in a memo on Wednesday that Google traffic for the company had fallen by 46% compared to last year. “We are in the middle of a mammoth shift in how audiences want content and journalism.” “To ensure a sustainable future for our journalism, we must focus our investment in the areas where our audiences spend the most time and where our revenue reflects the value of our work. In our newsrooms, that means less emphasis on story volume and more on original journalism and distinctive brands,” said David Higgerson, according to The Guardian.
It will result in around 60 new positions in subscriptions and video, meaning the overall loss will be nearly 160 posts. The online-only local brands KentLive, AberdeenLive, and GalwayBeo will be closing. Higgerson also referred to what he described as an “expansionist BBC”, stating that the broadcaster’s local programming matches that of commercial publishers about 70% of the time. As the PA news agency reported, Higgerson said the company would “have to reduce its editorial organization next year” and that budgets for non-staff had been cut to avoid compulsory redundancies.
These job cuts follow Reach’s previous restructure a year ago, when about 600 editorial roles were at risk, and more than 300 jobs were lost. Since then, the company’s traffic problems have worsened. In July, Reach’s half-year results showed a 55% drop in Google referrals and a 40% decrease in its website audience, according to Press Gazette. Chief executive Piers North said the company plans to shift away from high-volume publishing.
The new strategy focuses on “active engaged time” rather than the number of page views and uses original reporting, longer videos, and subscriptions. Although the Guardian states that Reach has around 50,000 digital subscribers and hopes to reach 75,000 by the end of the year, it also notes that the company’s shares have lost about 90% of their value over the past five years. Reach is not the only one blaming Google, as other publishers have also seen significant drops in click-through rates since AI Overviews launched, and some have filed antitrust complaints over the feature. In June, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority decided that Google must allow publishers to opt out of AI results without affecting their search ranking.
These new controls are expected to be fully available within nine months. Also tagged with
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