Daily Mirror publisher Reach says changes in news content on Facebook have hit digital sales
- The newspaper group owns the Daily Express and Manchester Evening News
- Reach’s revenue was down 5.9% year-over-year for the four months ended April 23
Daily Mirror owner Reach has warned that changes in how Facebook displays news content on its platform will affect revenue.
The newspaper group, which also owns the Daily Express, Manchester Evening News and OK! magazine, said sales contracted 5.9 percent year over year in the four months ended April 23.
Print revenue fell just 3 percent during the period, though this channel’s ad sales plummeted by nearly a fifth, which Reach attributed to price hikes it made last year.
Declining sales: Daily Mirror and Daily Express owner Reach stated that sales fell 5.9 percent year-on-year in the four months ended April 23
But digital sales fell 14.5 percent, with bosses blaming a tough online advertising market and a decline in reader page views.
In April, Facebook owner Meta shut down Instant Articles, a mobile-friendly format that allowed users to read full articles on the social media website’s app without having to leave the platform to access them.
It’s part of a broader shift away from news-focused products at Meta.
Last year, Meta spokesperson Erin Miller claimed that only 3 percent of Facebook feed posts contained links to news stories, adding that “there’s no point in investing too much in areas that don’t match users’ preferences.”
Johnathan Barrett, an analyst with broker Panmure Gordon, said: ‘Only time will tell if this is just part of the ongoing testing designed to optimize [Facebook’s] performance or if this may be trying to improve its negotiating position ahead of commercial discussions with publishers.”
The UK government recently published a bill outlining plans to force social media companies to make cash-for-content deals with UK news publishers.
This follows legislation passed in Australia two years ago requiring Google and Facebook to make deals to compensate media companies for hosting news content on their platforms.
A law in Britain could give a major financial boost to Reach, which in March warned it could lay off up to 420 workers this year.
The company has struggled not only with weak advertising revenue but also with inflationary pressures in its print business, yet has noticed strong growth in data-driven sales.
Jim Mullen, chief executive of Reach, said: ‘External factors continue to impact digital revenue, the delivery of the customer value strategy driving a higher quality mix, supported by the power of print.
“Our focus on data means customers are more likely to receive and interact with relevant content, and the user experience will be more engaging.”
Reach plc shares ended 1.6 percent higher at 84p on Wednesday, though they’ve lost about half of their value over the past 12 months.