The boss of the publisher of the Mirror, Express and Star newspapers has said that its print titles will become loss-making in six to eight years, but that its burgeoning digital strategy will save them from closure.
The chief executive of Reach, which owns more than 100 news brands including the Manchester Evening News, the Birmingham Mail and the Liverpool Echo, said he intended to remain committed to print even when the operations became a drag on the business.
“We are maintaining a well loved but declining print business,” said Jim Mullen, who warned in January last year that the titles could become loss-making in next five years.
“It might be a bit longer, six to eight years,” he said. “I’m talking about profitability, not about the end of newspapers. It is a revenue stream of hundreds of millions annually. With six to eight years’ profitability, I keep saying that is a positive.”
Last week, Reach reported its print operation – comprising advertising and copy sales – made £406m in revenues last year, down 6% on a like-for-like basis compared with 2023.
While the number of newspapers sold by Reach declined by 17% year on year, Mullen said this meant the company’s cost base also shrank because of reductions in ink, newsprint, energy consumption and use of printing plates.
Reach has been pushing a digital-first approach, which included significant job cuts in its traditional print operation, resulting in digital income returning to growth last year.
Overall, digital revenues grew 2.1% to £130m in 2024, having contracted in 2023.
The publisher reported growth of 8.6% in the fourth quarter, the fastest rate in almost three years.
Total digital income now accounts for almost a third of Reach’s total revenues. However, Mullen was unwilling to predict when print would no longer be the primary driver of the publisher’s business.
“The US and [Donald] Trump is a gift that keeps giving, that attracts a lot of traffic,” he said. “When does digital overtake print? It is too far reaching to be able to say. I don’t need to worry about that at the moment. When the time comes, when digital does overtake newsprint, then it will support the print newspapers.”
The shift of focus to digital-first led to a significant hollowing out of senior and longstanding editorial staff last year, including the editors of the Mirror, Sunday Mirror, Daily Express and Sunday Express.
This followed almost 800 roles going in the biggest annual cull of jobs in the newspaper industry in decades.
Mullen said the media coverage had overfocused on a cuts culture as Reach was still hiring new staff – albeit on much lower salaries – to support the digital transition.
“We are investing in digital,” he said. “Studios at our main sites, social video, social content. We brought 60 digital journalists into the business in the second half of last year alone.”
