Media group Reach plc has hailed its return to digital growth as it posted operating profits ahead of market expectations.
The group, which owns BusinessLive as well as national and regional titles including the Mirror, the Liverpool Echo and Wales Online, said revenues for 2024 declined 5.3% to £538.6m.
Print revenue of £406.7m was down 7.3%, 6.0% like-for-like, but Reach said it “ importantly outperformed the volume trends”. Digital revenue returned to growth, rising 2.1% to £130m, while digital advertising yields grew 19%
The group delivered a 6.5% like-for-like reduction in operating costs to £439.1m. Its Customer Value Strategy, aimed at growing loyal online audiences, drove a 6.8% increase in data-driven digital revenues.
Adjusted pre-tax profits rose 16.5% to £79.7m while adjusted operating profit rose by 6.0% – “ahead of market expectation” – at an improved margin of 19%, up from 17% last year.
In Q4 of 2024 Reach hailed a “strong digital performance”, with revenue up 8.6% like-for-like, while print advertising also performed well “given the unusually high level of activity by food retailers in the comparable quarter last year”.
Chief executive Jim Mullen said: “Our good performance in 2024 saw our digital business move back to growth, driven by our Customer Value Strategy and diversification into areas like affiliates and ecommerce. Our use of data allowed us to drive greater value from our digital content, increase engagement and deliver better performance for our advertisers. We continue to demonstrate expert management of our print business, maximising revenue and reader value, while maintaining our focus on costs across the business.
“The media landscape has continued to evolve, and the year saw us adapt our own proposition with the introduction of the Content Hub and increased video capability. Our audiences have responded positively, demonstrating support for our offer and for the value of free-to-access, advertising-funded journalism that informs, is reliable and gives them a voice. We are well placed for 2025.”
Mr Mullen also hailed Reach’s journalistic achievements over the year, including its 5,000 Voices video vox pop project around the General Election, and the Manchester Evening News raising funds to save the iconic Salford Lads Club.
And he added: “Behind all of this good work is the awareness that we must improve the customer experience on our websites so that our audiences can better enjoy our great content, and I am happy to say we have made good strides here. In 2024, we trialled a new website platform on the Liverpool Echo, which improved page loading speeds, removed the page shifting issue and increased page views per visit.
“We have since launched this platform on the Manchester Evening News, Daily Record, BirminghamLive, and the Daily Star, with page loading speed tripling on those sites and page views per visit up 2%. The teams also recently introduced the new platform on the Mirror site and we will continue to roll out across our other sites through 2025.”
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