Reach plc has welcomed new figures which the company says put it in a “strong position” ahead of its expansion into rival publishers’ territories.

Reach has become the first publisher to achieve more than 40 million visitors to its websites, according to statistics released by media measurement company Comscore.

The figures showed that a total of 41,048,000 unique visitors looked at Reach plc-owned sites in October.

Of this overall total, the company says its regional digital offerings recorded 33 million unique users over the same time period.

The milestone comes after Reach announced yesterday it was set to launch seven new digital-only regional news titles in the North of England and South Wales under its ‘Live’ brand.

The new launches, which are set to create 46 jobs, will go head to head with existing titles in those regions owned by Newsquest and JPIMedia.

Lloyd Embley, pictured, group editor-in-chief of Reach plc, said: “This is a big milestone for us and a real vote of confidence in our journalism.

“We now have a digital reach comparable to the biggest tech players, putting us in a strong position as we prepare to expand our network even further in 2020.”