Daily Mirror publisher Reach hit by Google traffic slump

Oct 13 — Daily Mirror publisher Reach said on Tuesday digital ​revenue remained under pressure in the third quarter, and that it remained cautious ‌about the segment's full-year outlook as industry-wide disruption weighed on ⁠audience traffic from Google.

• ​News publishers are navigating ⁠falling print readership and weaker referral traffic ‌from platforms ‌such as Google amid the rise of AI ⁠chatbots.

• Google's AI ⁠Overviews, which answer queries directly in search results, have drawn complaints from publishers over falling traffic and advertising revenue.

• Reach's revenue fell 14.1% in the quarter, with digital revenue ‌down more than 20% .

• Shares ​of the company fell as much as 4.3% to 44 pence in early trade, before paring losses and trading largely flat as of 0717 GMT.

• The company said print advertising was supported by the FIFA World Cup, ​and off-platform revenues benefited from AI licensing ‌agreements.

• It is ‌restructuring ⁠its business, including closing print sites, as it looks to reduce costs and offset pressure from declining print sales and weaker digital traffic.

• ‌Reach said it ​remains on track to ‌deliver full-year results ⁠in line ​with market expectations. ($1 = 0.7561 pounds)

(Reporting by Atharva Singh in ​Bengaluru)

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