Reach blames digital sales drop on changes in Facebook’s news distribution

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Reach, the UK’s largest commercial news publisher of titles such as the Mirror and Express, has blamed a strategic decision by Facebook to pull back from news distribution for a drop in digital revenues in the first half of the year.

Reach said that pre-tax profits were £6.7mn, down from £32mn compared with the same period last year. Revenues fell by £18mn, or 6.1 per cent, with print down 2.7 per cent and digital revenue down 16.1 per cent.

The publisher said that it faced “significant external headwinds”, which have inflated operating costs and suppressed revenue growth. 

Digital sales were hit by a decline in traffic in part following recent changes to Facebook’s news feed — including the decision in April 2023 to shut down Instant Articles, a mobile-friendly format that quickly loads news articles on the Facebook app — which led to a “significant decrease” in readers referred to its news sites.