Owner of Mirror newspaper blames Facebook for slump
THE publisher of the Mirror and
has blamed changes to Facebook’s news feed for a slump in revenues at the start of the year.
In a trading update yesterday morning, Reach said it had suffered a slowdown in page views after the social media firm’s bosses changed the way it presents news content.
Last year parent company Meta overhauled Facebook’s news feed, splitting it into separate “Home” and “Feeds” tabs in a move that deprioritised posts from publishers.
Reach said the changes led to a reduction in referred traffic across the sector.
Meta has also scrapped its instant articles feature, which enabled news links to load more quickly in the app.
Speaking when the changes were made in July 2022, Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said the tweaks ensured more users would not miss their friends’ updates.
Johnathan Barrett, an analyst at Panmure Gordon, said: “Clearly Facebook has been under pressure.
“Only time will tell as to whether this is just part of the ongoing testing designed to optimise their performance – or if this is perhaps seeking to improve its bargaining position ahead of commercial discussions with publishers, which have ever-growing regulatory support.”
As a result, Reach posted a 14.5pc fall in digital revenues over the first four months of the year, with advertising revenues down by almost a fifth.
Print revenues proved more resilient, falling only 3pc thanks to increases in cover prices and better than expected advertising performance.
Overall, revenues were down just under 6pc over the period. The publisher, which also owns local titles including the Manchester Evening News, said it was putting 420 roles at risk of redundancy as it battles an advertising slowdown and surge in costs. In January, 190 redundancies were announced to save £30m a year.
Reach said it expects to reduce operating costs by between 5pc and 6pc this year, with most in the second half.
Jim Mullen, chief executive of Reach, said: “External factors continue to impact digital revenue.”