A regional publishing boss has highlighted the importance of print after revealing circulation has been the only type of revenue to increase in the first nine months of this year.

Reach plc chief executive Jim Mullen has given credit to the “resilient” print business after the group announced overall revenue has declined by 6.6pc so far this year when compared to the first nine months of 2022.

In a trading update issued this morning, overall print revenue was down 3.8pc and print advertising revenue had dropped by 15.7pc for the same period – but print circulation revenue was up 0.4pc.

The company has continued to cite Facebook’s “de-prioritisation of news” for a 15.2pc digital revenue decrease from January to September 2023, with page views down by 21pc, while for the third quarter of this year the declined was 13.7pc.

Other year-on-year comparisons for the quarter showed drops of 7.8pc for overall group revenue, 5.8pc for print revenue, 3.3pc for circulation revenue and 8.9pc for advertising revenue.

However, full year profit expectations remained unchanged for the company, which has been hit by several rounds of cuts to staffing during 2023.

In the update, Reach also noted data driven revenue – which includes money generated from targeted advertising, affiliates, partnerships and ecommerce – now accounts for 42pc of all digital revenue.

Jim, pictured, said: “This quarter we see continued evidence that our data-driven strategy is working, supported by our resilient print business. Through this challenging period we have remained focused on the controllables.

“We are delivering our Customer Value Strategy and have made progress diversifying our audience. We continue to review our cost base so that we can accelerate our digital transformation.”