Regional publisher Reach plc has hailed strong growth in its online newsbrands in the wake of last week’s ABC results showing continued print decline.

Latest IPSOS figures for online traffic, which are published in full on HTFP today, showed Reach flagship the Manchester Evening News grew its audience by 22pc in the year to January, with page views up 33pc.

It contrasts with last week’s regional ABC figures for print which showed the MEN’s print readership fell by 20pc in the second half of 2024 compared with the same period the previous year.

Across Reach’s ‘Live’ network of regional websites as a whole, overall page views were up 6.8pc year-on-year, with a 1pc increase in overall audience.

Other sites showing strong audience growth included Lancs Live, Lincolnshire Live and Aberdeen Live, although the Birmingham Mail and Liverpool Echo websites each saw a 26pc decline in unique users during January.

Meanwhile Northants Live – one of the few surviving ‘Live’ brands in areas where Reach does not have a print title – topped the user engagement chart for January with users spending an average of 12 minutes on the site – an increase of 380pc on the previous year.

In a press statement, Reach said the figures “further consolidate its position as the UK’s largest commercial publisher, with deeper engagement driving page view growth in 2025.”

It also claimed its news brands are increasingly appealing to younger audiences, with the under-35 audience growing by 2pc overall.

Chief digital publisher David Higgerson said: “Building on a strong end to 2024, it’s great to see that over half of our sites are now in page view growth, year on year.

“What’s particularly meaningful about these numbers is not just that we’re getting more page views overall, but that our audience is choosing to come back to us more often, with page views per user up by 32pc.

“It’s a very positive sign too that we’re attracting more under-35s, in large part thanks to more young people finding our content off platform.

“This is testament to a lot of the work that our teams have put into producing engaging content across a range of channels. The success of our Content Hub has also allowed our brands to spend more time deepening their relationships with their audiences, which we can see now bearing fruit.”

January’s IPSOS figures saw the MEN retain top spot in the rankings for both overall audience and page views.

We are continuing to publish the top 50 newsbrands in each metric. The titles are listed below in order of the December 2024 metrics, which can be found in the middle column.

Websites which are ‘untagged’ are reported based on observed panel behaviour. These sites can experience volatility from month to month.

When a website is untagged, it means that it relies solely on data collected from the Ipsos Iris user-centric panel. Tagging enhances measurement, particularly for smaller sites, by improving the accuracy of the reported data.

For more information on tagging and measurement please visit https://iris.ipsos.com/ or email [email protected].

Table 1:  Audience (monthly unique users)

Media	Jan ’24	Jan ’25	YoY % change
manchestereveningnews.co.uk	8,917,516	10,871,455	21.91
standard.co.uk	7,826,465	8,193,359	4.69
birminghammail.co.uk	9,628,134	7,066,483	-26.61
walesonline.co.uk	7,106,152	6,442,360	-9.34
liverpoolecho.co.uk	7,696,389	5,661,684	-26.44
bristolpost.co.uk	4,785,116	5,192,561	8.51
lancs.live	1,689,732	4,222,288	149.88
getsurrey.co.uk	1,027,759	4,208,761	309.51
examinerlive.co.uk	2,476,980	4,101,471	65.58
leeds-live.co.uk	1,324,858	3,716,454	180.52
devonlive.com	1,874,662	3,162,991	68.72
chroniclelive.co.uk	4,503,730	2,842,951	-36.88
nottinghampost.com	3,031,338	2,661,350	-12.21
kentonline.co.uk	2,290,320	2,522,660	10.14
inyourarea.co.uk	3,274,949	2,436,810	-25.59
plymouthherald.co.uk	1,048,211	2,258,345	115.45
mylondon.news	3,220,329	2,188,778	-32.03
gloucestershirelive.co.uk	2,801,039	2,137,026	-23.71
thestar.co.uk	1,445,385	2,125,626	47.06
belfastlive.co.uk	1,836,827	2,118,761	15.35
coventrytelegraph.net	1,344,466	2,055,524	52.89
leicestermercury.co.uk	1,032,186	1,952,253	89.14
cityam.com	866,686	1,933,864	123.13
cambridge-news.co.uk	1,460,528	1,906,844	30.56
scotsman.com	1,203,716	1,807,119	50.13
edinburghlive.co.uk	1,069,295	1,802,522	68.57
derbytelegraph.co.uk	1,114,030	1,648,674	47.99
heraldscotland.com	1,160,734	1,618,670	39.45
yorkshirepost.co.uk	1,972,234	1,505,822	-23.65
glasgowlive.co.uk	1,208,283	1,487,458	23.11
theargus.co.uk	980,369	1,484,586	51.43
thenorthernecho.co.uk	867,784	1,413,005	62.83
thenational.scot	1,205,595	1,404,364	16.49
oxfordmail.co.uk	1,238,072	1,380,933	11.54
stokesentinel.co.uk	1,433,411	1,375,461	-4.04
dailypost.co.uk	1,378,177	1,355,718	-1.63
yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk	1,601,951	1,352,517	-15.57
gazettelive.co.uk	1,181,392	1,333,805	12.90
somersetlive.co.uk	848,253	1,259,923	48.53
edp24.co.uk	873,495	1,249,241	43.02
kentlive.news	1,272,735	1,221,931	-3.99
cornwalllive.com	1,038,201	1,220,407	17.55
edinburghnews.scotsman.com	1,454,712	1,196,124	-17.78
thetelegraphandargus.co.uk	898,583	1,122,917	24.97
portsmouth.co.uk	1,030,325	1,084,816	5.29
essexlive.news	1,049,524	1,026,727	-2.17
belfasttelegraph.co.uk	1,231,020	1,017,046	-17.38
theboltonnews.co.uk	514,288	982,548	91.05
sussexexpress.co.uk	945,759	981,057	3.73
lep.co.uk	883,149	935,505	5.93

 

Table 2: Page views

Media	Jan ’24	Jan ’25	YoY % change
manchestereveningnews.co.uk	53,355,716	71,162,016	33.37
birminghammail.co.uk	65,413,416	47,055,234	-28.06
liverpoolecho.co.uk	49,093,709	46,487,888	-5.31
walesonline.co.uk	47,990,477	41,217,303	-14.11
bristolpost.co.uk	19,698,506	28,775,501	46.08
getsurrey.co.uk	4,553,398	28,240,085	520.20
standard.co.uk	27,195,131	23,325,735	-14.23
kentonline.co.uk	24,357,601	20,678,134	-15.11
chroniclelive.co.uk	22,938,297	20,253,996	-11.70
devonlive.com	11,013,452	18,659,505	69.42
lancs.live	5,383,843	18,191,826	237.90
belfastlive.co.uk	11,126,578	16,687,264	49.98
leeds-live.co.uk	5,885,868	15,568,681	164.51
examinerlive.co.uk	10,998,689	14,970,348	36.11
nottinghampost.com	14,465,383	14,155,278	-2.14
plymouthherald.co.uk	7,385,488	14,025,821	89.91
leicestermercury.co.uk	8,422,435	13,730,879	63.03
belfasttelegraph.co.uk	12,796,490	11,550,215	-9.74
stokesentinel.co.uk	10,282,384	11,291,029	9.81
gloucestershirelive.co.uk	13,754,339	10,775,614	-21.66
coventrytelegraph.net	7,507,814	10,464,354	39.38
inyourarea.co.uk	12,077,504	10,400,400	-13.89
edp24.co.uk	9,562,558	9,905,105	3.58
cornwalllive.com	7,342,813	9,314,644	26.85
edinburghlive.co.uk	5,886,529	9,261,328	57.33
gazettelive.co.uk	8,522,262	8,967,976	5.23
derbytelegraph.co.uk	6,528,876	8,845,221	35.48
thestar.co.uk	8,776,648	8,681,456	-1.08
dailypost.co.uk	7,527,700	8,458,940	12.37
hulldailymail.co.uk	8,949,848	8,252,501	-7.79
cambridge-news.co.uk	4,893,930	7,610,270	55.50
bournemouthecho.co.uk	3,025,063	7,574,014	150.38
glasgowlive.co.uk	5,201,850	6,994,460	34.46
essexlive.news	4,992,381	6,892,006	38.05
mylondon.news	9,407,696	6,862,337	-27.06
thetelegraphandargus.co.uk	6,179,503	6,352,557	2.80
somersetlive.co.uk	3,605,869	6,316,040	75.16
edinburghnews.scotsman.com	7,288,553	5,872,591	-19.43
portsmouth.co.uk	6,290,221	5,577,051	-11.34
yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk	9,365,258	5,469,277	-41.60
newsandstar.co.uk	4,662,642	5,426,331	16.38
scotsman.com	4,126,123	5,125,143	24.21
kentlive.news	5,284,808	5,106,293	-3.38
dailyecho.co.uk	3,931,465	5,101,669	29.77
thenorthernecho.co.uk	4,402,572	5,061,033	14.96
dorsetecho.co.uk	2,872,562	4,599,314	60.11
football.london	8,069,069	4,343,034	-46.18
expressandstar.com	2,856,415	4,248,822	48.75
theargus.co.uk	4,589,475	4,193,875	-8.62
sussexexpress.co.uk	5,124,937	4,168,630	-18.66

 

Table 3: Engagement (Average minutes per user)

Media	Jan ’24	Jan ’25	YoY % change
northantslive.news	2.62	12.59	380.36
kidderminstershuttle.co.uk	3.34	10.52	214.70
sthelensstar.co.uk	4.00	7.46	86.39
newsandstar.co.uk	10.81	7.11	-34.21
lincsonline.co.uk	2.49	6.88	176.04
theisleofthanetnews.com	5.28	6.79	28.77
belfasttelegraph.co.uk	7.19	6.63	-7.82
dorsetecho.co.uk	3.34	6.60	97.46
hulldailymail.co.uk	6.22	6.37	2.32
bournemouthecho.co.uk	3.05	6.01	96.87
northantstelegraph.co.uk	4.01	5.68	41.41
countypress.co.uk	5.75	5.63	-2.12
westerntelegraph.co.uk	2.48	5.53	123.35
kentonline.co.uk	5.21	5.51	5.64
cambrian-news.co.uk	7.40	5.46	-26.28
bedfordindependent.co.uk	9.48	5.23	-44.79
somersetcountygazette.co.uk	1.52	5.20	242.29
northamptonchron.co.uk	4.42	5.06	14.55
eveningnews24.co.uk	9.09	4.91	-46.05
pinkun.com	1.59	4.77	201.14
grimsbytelegraph.co.uk	6.11	4.73	-22.58
thetelegraphandargus.co.uk	5.19	4.61	-11.02
dailyecho.co.uk	4.22	4.57	8.48
salisburyjournal.co.uk	7.04	4.40	-37.45
chesterstandard.co.uk	2.36	4.37	85.51
sunderlandecho.com	5.21	4.36	-16.21
hertsad.co.uk	1.05	4.35	312.57
gazettelive.co.uk	5.06	4.33	-14.44
pressandjournal.co.uk	3.52	4.31	22.47
cravenherald.co.uk	2.59	4.15	60.33
ipswichstar.co.uk	5.37	4.10	-23.59
peterboroughtoday.co.uk	6.11	4.05	-33.67
football.london	3.55	4.02	13.11
warringtonguardian.co.uk	3.40	3.95	16.23
stokesentinel.co.uk	4.49	3.93	-12.52
chroniclelive.co.uk	2.74	3.93	43.10
countytimes.co.uk	1.46	3.89	166.39
rotherhamadvertiser.co.uk	3.23	3.88	20.36
wirralglobe.co.uk	3.46	3.88	12.14
liverpoolecho.co.uk	3.56	3.85	8.25
gazetteandherald.co.uk	1.89	3.84	102.96
expressandstar.com	2.83	3.80	34.09
herefordtimes.com	5.81	3.76	-35.23
johnogroat-journal.co.uk	4.39	3.68	-16.18
southwalesargus.co.uk	3.05	3.65	19.65
derryjournal.com	2.89	3.64	25.82
halifaxcourier.co.uk	3.26	3.61	10.96
lutontoday.co.uk	2.90	3.59	23.90
edp24.co.uk	4.26	3.59	-15.80
hampshirechronicle.co.uk	1.50	3.58	138.97