Reach cuts 220 editorial jobs and closes three local sites as Google traffic falls

Reach, the UK group behind the Daily Mirror, the Daily Express and dozens of local titles, told staff on 16 September that 220 editorial jobs will go. It will also create 60 new roles in video and subscriptions, so the net loss is about 160 posts, Press Gazette reported.

Three online-only local brands will close: Kent Live, Aberdeen Live and Galway Beo in Ireland. The round comes less than a year after the previous one, which removed up to 186 roles.

Reach blames weaker Google referrals and AI Overviews

Reach tied the decision to falling traffic from Google. It pointed to changes in Google Discover and to AI Overviews, the summaries that answer a question at the top of the results page. A reader who gets the answer there often has no reason to click through to a news site.

The Irish Times reported that the company cited “the rise of artificial intelligence overviews” and changes to Google’s algorithm. Not every publisher sees the same pattern: Le Monde reported no audience drop after AI Overviews launched in France.

Higgerson says BBC local news overlaps with Reach up to 70% of the time

Reach also named the BBC. Chief content officer David Higgerson said the broadcaster’s local output mirrors what publishers already produce “up to 70% of the time”, according to Press Gazette.

Reach will judge its newsrooms on active engaged time from year end

By the end of the year, “active engaged time” becomes the main newsroom metric at Reach. It counts how long people actually read or watch, not how many pages load. Higgerson said the group wants less focus on story volume and more on “original journalism and distinctive brands”.

Reach has more than 50,000 paying subscribers across 22 titles. The 60 new jobs go to longer video and to turning readers into paying members. Google, for its part, has started paying some publishers through an AI pilot, but Reach did not mention it.

NUJ calls the Galway Beo closure an act of self-sabotage

The National Union of Journalists criticised the plan. General secretary Laura Davison called it “an act of self-sabotage” and said the closures will widen the local news gap in the UK and Ireland, the Irish Times reported.

Local advertisers in Kent, Aberdeen and Galway lose three sites that reached readers close to home. The winners are the places where those readers now get quick answers: Google’s own results pages and the BBC’s local services.