Reach says its local and national titles are harnessing channels including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X, Reddit, WhatsApp and Snapchat, with a 19% growth across Reach in the past year.
The publisher says recent highlights include the Mirror’s feature about a transatlantic tunnel that would connect Britain and the US in under an hour, with over 15 million Facebook views. A Daily Star piece on TikTok covered the growth of phone snatching in London, generating over 30 million views.
According to Reach, YouTube is an area of growth too with Curiously, Reach's social content brand aimed at 16 to 34-year-olds, recently producing an Ariana Grande video viewed more than 5 million times.
Reach US brands have enjoyed success on Reddit with the Express US and Mirror US both hitting karma scores (a measure of how many times content has been upvoted by readers) of more than 500k, added the publisher. These accounts have only been active since May last year and are already referring substantial traffic back to news sites, the publisher continued.
David Higgerson, chief digital publisher for Reach, said: "From famous titles like the Mirror, Express and Star, regional heavyweights such as the Manchester Evening News and Liverpool Echo, to localised outlets right across the UK and beyond, it's great to see our social media channels continue to grow and engage new audiences.
"The future is all about growth as we look to accelerate the use of video content with the build of new dedicated studio facilities. We are keen to make sure the content we create has its own distinct identity and branding so that it's relevant to our local audiences wherever they are."
Reach says it is further investing in its podcasting and video capability this year, building dedicated Studio 'Box' facilities across its sites. Each Studio Box will enable creators to produce original, audience-specific content, which can be shared across platforms and social channels.
Keep up-to-date with publishing news: sign up here for InPubWeekly, our free weekly e-newsletter.
