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Reach aims to expand into ‘new markets’ with UK-wide business site launch

HiggersonA regional publisher is launching a UK-wide business news website in a fresh bid to expand into “new geographic markets”.

Reach plc has announced the launch of Business Live, which will host stories written by business writers from its regional titles around the country.

One new job will be created as a result of the venture’s launch, with a business editor for the site currently being sought.

Reach says it hopes to “bring quality content” to the site from areas it already serves, but will also “look to expand into new geographic markets, to ensure coverage is relevant, extensive and valuable to existing and untapped audiences”.

Reach chief audience officer David Higgerson, pictured, said: “We see a clear opportunity to enhance our digital business offering by consolidating our various titles’ coverage into a bespoke brand.

“This will allow us to better serve audiences who we know prize our informed local coverage, and provide more of a destination site for those seeking more general business news.

“We have some of the best-connected and knowledgeable business writers around so bringing their talent together in Business Live is not only an exciting new direction, it’s a logical step.”

In recent years, Reach has expanded into news markets traditionally served by rival publishers with the launch of digital-only titles including Leeds Live and Edinburgh Live, while the launch team for the forthcoming Lancashire Live site was announced earlier this month.

The company says the new brand, which will be found at www.business.live when it launches, will also provide a “greater scope for our commercial partnerships”.

Sarah Pullen, commercial director for Reach Regionals, said: “I’m delighted that we are consolidating our extensive business news onto one site and enhancing our Live brands.

“With national, regional and local business coverage this will give businesses the opportunity to reach a geographical and sector specialist audience.”

6 comments

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  • January 18, 2019 at 4:27 pm
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    “…which will host stories written by business writers from its regional titles around the country… it hopes to ‘bring quality content’ to the site from areas it already serves”.

    Yeah, good luck with that. None of the Reach titles in my area generate any business-related content unless its a hasty rewrite of a press release. And if that’s going to form the core of this new venture, it’s dead in the water already.

    (That sounds horrifically cynical, but I’ve lost count of how many of these hare-brained schemes have been announced to great fanfare only to sink without trace when they aren’t given adequate resources)

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  • January 18, 2019 at 9:23 pm
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    Content from regional business reporters? Which regional business reporters would those be? Reach made the position redundant in Gloucestershire for starters and I can see precious little evidence of any business or economic expertise in the likes of BirminghamLive.

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  • January 21, 2019 at 8:35 am
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    As any decent business editor will be able to tell you, public limited companies need to keep creating new products to show investors.
    This is meant to show that the company is always moving forwards – the market abhors stagnation.
    So, I am not saying that it will necessarily fail, although it does appear to be a rather crowded market and the quality of the reporting will vary tremendously.
    However Reach plc (old TrinityMirror) do not seem to have got the fundamentals right. That is making the digital newsroom pay. They were one of the first to go digital first, have had enough time to formulate a plan that actually works. If I was a shareholder that would be what I want to see – not lots of new products.

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  • January 21, 2019 at 8:49 am
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    And further to my previous comment. It is doubtful that the company would have done any meaningful research.
    It’s clear from the comments that no one has called – or indeed expressed an interest – for this new website. Either from an editorial or commercial standpoint.
    I fear it will go the same way as UsvTh3m.

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  • January 24, 2019 at 1:03 am
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    Desperado’s , why don’t you co,e to your senses…

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