Reach plc

This week, our teams and journalists scooped 9 awards at the Regional Press Awards, our teams in Hull and Grimsby reported on the shocking North Sea ship crash, and journalists across our network produced powerful content on the five-year anniversary of the Covid pandemic and lockdown. Read about all this and more in the newsletter, and subscribe for our weekly highlights. #journalism #localjournalism #regionaljournalism #news #journalismcareers

Our regional teams had a fantastic night at the Regional Press Awards yesterday, taking home nine awards in 20 categories. The Liverpool Echo won Newsbrand of the Year (Large), with WalesOnline taking Scoop of the Year and the Manchester Evening News winning in the Young Journalist of the Year category. We were also thrilled to receive seven ‘highly commended’ places. The awards recognise the hard work and talent that comes out of regional press, both in print and online, making change and bringing communities together through journalism. Huge congratulations to all our winners: ▪️ Newsbrand of the Year (Large): Liverpool Echo ▪️ Best Live Coverage: Liverpool Echo  ▪️ Campaign of the Year: Derbyshire Live & Derbyshire Telegraph - Save our rail industry  ▪️ Digital initiative of the Year: BirminghamLive/Reach Data Unit for Child Poverty Emergency ▪️ Front Page of the Year: Western Mail - ‘Last Breath’, Port Talbot steelworks ▪️ Reporting Communities Award: BirminghamLive/Birmingham Mail for ‘Brummie Muslims’ newsletter ▪️ Scoop of the Year: WalesOnline for Vaughan Gething donations revelations ▪️ Young Journalist of the Year: James Holt, Manchester Evening News ▪️ Specialist Journalist of the Year: Liam Thorp, Political Editor at the Liverpool Echo Read more here: https://lnkd.in/eCwhK4fD #journalismawards   #journalism  #regionaljournalism  #localjournalism #journalismcareers

Congratulations to the Mirror’s Lizzy Buchan and the Express’ Sam Lister for being celebrated in the Women in Westminster: The 100 list.  It recognises women who are leading the way in politics and public services, not only for being exceptional in their role, but also for inspiring and influencing others. Lizzy was appointed Political Editor of The Mirror last year, after serving as Deputy. One of her nominators for the award said that her ‘modest demeanour belies her steely determination to dig out stories.’ Sam became Associate Editor of the Express last year, following her time as Political Editor. One of her nominators for the award said: “Sam is one of the sharpest, brightest and most prominent women in the Lobby.” Lizzy Buchan and Sam Lister previously hosted our political podcast The Division Bell together - and you can now catch Lizzy with Christian Calgie from our brand new studio here: https://lnkd.in/euZSVEtE #womeninjournalism  #politicaljournalism  #womeninpolitics  #journalism #politicalpodcasts

Happy International Women’s Day. We celebrated early this week, as our Reach Equality network brought colleagues together across the UK, Ireland and US for a careers panel chaired by the Mirror’s Editor in Chief Caroline Waterston. The discussion centred around this year’s theme of Accelerate Action, as women from apprentice to director level shared reflections on wiggly careers, defining success, professional pathways and the challenges of juggling a job and family responsibilities. Here’s just a few of the wonderful tips and advice that came out of the session: ▪️ If not me, then who? We all have imposter syndrome at some point, but believe in yourself and trust in your abilities. All of the panellists spoke about self-doubt and that to progress you have to rise above it and go on to seize the opportunity.  ▪️ Take time to reflect. Our industry is challenging, but it is also a place where we learn, grow, make mistakes and take opportunities, forge our friends and allies. Take time to pause and relish the moments. ▪️ Don't shy away from difficult conversations, and be an ally. Not being afraid to speak up on a bad day, feeling able to talk to a manager, seeking support and allyship from colleagues and our networks. Thanks to all our panellists: Cecilia Adamou, Mirror trainee; Tahira Ali Apprentice Content Creator; Lisa Cameron, Commercial Director, Regionals; Sheena McStravick, Editor, Belfast Live; Donna Ogier, US Audience Director. #iwd2025 #internationalwomensday  #womeninjournalism  #journalism  #genderequality  #mediacareers  #newscareers  #journalismcareers  #techcareers

This week, our UK front pages took a stand against JD Vance’s comments, BristolLive obtained disturbing videos posted by a double murderer from prison, and DerbyshireLive has been immersed in live coverage of the annual Ashbourne Shrovetide football match. Read about all this and more in Celebrating Great Journalism, and subscribe for our weekly highlights. #journalism #regionaljournalism #localjournalism #localnews

Today is #WorldBookDay, a moment to celebrate writers, illustrators and all the people who help bring books into the world. Our fantastic team at Mirror Books and Reach Sport work with authors year-round to delight readers in the UK - with celebrity autobiographies, hard-hitting real life memoirs, shocking true crime, inspirational nostalgia and sport books. 👇 Here’s a sneak peek at the beautiful covers from some of the titles landing in 2025: ▪️ A Spy in the Family, by ex-Mirror investigative journalist Paul Henderson, with author and journalist David Gardner. Out now! ▪️ The Not so Secret Football Agent, by Barry Silkman, the incredible and colourful story of his career, from player to agent. Out now!  ▪️ The Radfords: Making Life Count, the paperback edition of the Sunday Times bestseller from Noel and Sue Radford of Britain’s biggest family, from Channel 5's 22 Kids and Counting. Out now! ▪️ Not That I’m Bitter, the paperback edition of comedian Helen Lederer’s memoir about life on the alternative British comedy scene of the 1980s.  ▪️ My Life as a Yorkshire Vet, the paperback edition of Matt Jackson-Smith’s book, star of the Channel 5 show The Yorkshire Vet. ▪️ Past, Present & Future: Cannon Hall Farm, the ups and downs of the Nicholson family (stars of Channel 5’s On the Farm) at Cannon Hall farm across almost 70 years. ▪️ Football, Taught by Matt Busby, by Wayne Barton delves into the DNA of Manchester United, with the most complete picture of Sir Matt Busby ever written. ▪️ Milo’s Story, by Louise Allen. The 11th instalment in the popular Thrown Away Children paperback series. ▪️ My Girl by Stace Don with Ann Cusack, the real-life story of a woman who was sexually abused and is now running a support group across 30 countries. Check out Mirror Books: https://lnkd.in/eVGzFCs2 Purchase from Reach Sport: https://lnkd.in/eUeB6i3A Mirror Books, an imprint of Reach plc #mirrorbooks #reachsport  #worldbookday2025  #celebritymemoir  #reallifememoir  #nonfiction #sportsmemoir

We delivered our full year results for 2024 today, announcing that we have delivered a good performance and exceeded market expectations. We returned to digital growth (+2%) and page view trends also improved through the year, ending Q4 up 6%. We also updated on our progress with revenue diversification, the encouraging growth of our US audience, and how our UX improvement work is rolling out across our sites. See our full results materials here: https://lnkd.in/eETpTPYD

In this week's newsletter, our titles marked the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Daily Record broke news of a US consortium attempting to take over Rangers FC, and the Mirror’s Dentists for All campaign achieved a major win. Read it here in Celebrating Great Journalism, and subscribe to the newsletter for our weekly highlights. #journalism #localjournalism #regionaljournalism #localnews

January Ipsos Iris data is out and we’ve grown our overall page views 6.8% year on year, with a 1% increase in audience. A few other good takeaways this month - ■ At an individual brand level, just over half of Reach’s sites are now growing their page views year on year. ■ Across the Live network of Reach’s local sites, engagement has increased, with pages per user up 32% year on year. ■ The Manchester Evening News, LancsLive, LincolnshireLive and AberdeenLive all recorded their best months in audience growth in the last 13 months. ■ The Express continues to be the fastest growing commercial news site on Fleet Street, with year-on-year audience growth of 32% and a year-on-year page view growth of 38%. ■ BelfastLive continues to be the best-read Northern Irish news brand, up year on year ■ The Daily Record remains the biggest newsbrand in Scotland ■ WalesOnline reaches more people in Wales than any other news site ■ Reach’s under-35 audience grew 2% overall, year on year David Higgerson, Reach’s Chief Digital Publisher, said: “Building on a strong end to 2024, it’s great to see that over half of our sites are now in page view growth, year on year. What’s particularly meaningful about these numbers is not just that we’re getting more page views overall, but that our audience is choosing to come back to us more often, with page views per user up by 32%. “It’s a very positive sign too that we’re attracting more under-35s, in large part thanks to more young people finding our content off platform. “This is testament to a lot of the work that our teams have put into producing engaging content across a range of channels. The success of our Content Hub has also allowed our brands to spend more time deepening their relationships with their audiences, which we can see now bearing fruit.” #localnews #ipsosiris

This week, colleagues at our Canary Wharf office were excited to look around the brand new Box London studio that our Reach Studio team have been working hard to develop over the last few months.  The London space has three new film and podcast studio spaces and editing suite - check out our behind-the-scenes pictures from the launch event on Wednesday. 👇 Mark Field, Director of Studio, said: “It’s been a momentous week for the Studio team, with the launch of the Box London marking an important milestone in all the hard work over the last few months. Thank you to everyone involved across the teams in the building, designing and managing what has been a truly mammoth project. We now have state of the art studios launched, with Boxes in Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham and London, with the final touches being put on our Box Liverpool to go alongside our revamped studio space in Newcastle. Although we raised a toast in London, it was a moment to celebrate the work across the country, and I’m looking forward to getting started on the high quality audio and visual content we’ll be producing across Reach.” Reach Solutions #agency  #contentstudio  #contentproduction #podcast