Mirror Publisher Reach Cuts 220 Editorial Jobs as Google’s AI Summaries Hit Traffic
Reach, the publisher of The Daily Mirror, The Daily Express, and several regional newspapers, is cutting 220 editorial jobs and closing three local news websites. The company attributes this decision to a significant drop in website traffic due to Google increasingly answering questions with AI. According to The Guardian, chief content officer David Higgerson noted that Google traffic for Reach had fallen by 46% compared to the previous year.
"We are in the middle of a mammoth shift in how audiences want content and journalism." — David Higgerson, Chief Content Officer
The job cuts will result in around 60 new positions in subscriptions and video, leading to an overall loss of nearly 160 posts. The online-only local brands KentLive, AberdeenLive, and GalwayBeo will be closing. Higgerson also criticized what he called an "expansionist BBC," stating that the broadcaster's local programming often matches that of commercial publishers around 70% of the time.
These cuts follow a previous restructure last year, where Reach reduced its editorial roles by about 600 and lost more than 300 jobs. The company's traffic problems have worsened since then, with a 55% drop in Google referrals and a 40% decrease in website audience in the first half of this year.
Reach plans to shift away from high-volume publishing, focusing on "active engaged time" rather than page views, using original reporting, longer videos, and subscriptions. Although Reach has around 50,000 digital subscribers, its shares have lost about 90% of their value over the past five years.
Reach is not alone in blaming Google for these changes, as other publishers have also seen significant drops in click-through rates since AI Overviews launched, leading to some filing antitrust complaints. In June, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority decided that Google must allow publishers to opt out of AI results without affecting their search ranking. These new controls are expected to be fully available within nine months.
Story by Ana-Maria Stanciuc, Editor-in-Chief at TNW