AddThis SmartLayers

Publisher to return to county with new website launch

David BartlettFive new jobs are to be created as publisher Reach plc steps up the roll-out of its ‘Live’ online brands with the launch of two new websites.

The group, which posted a £28.9m profit for the first half of 2020 earlier this week despite the Covid-19 pandemic, is to launch new digital brands in Bedfordshire and Peterborough.

BedfordshireLive will see Reach return to a county it exited in 2018 after closing print weekly Bedfordshire Midweek.

At the same time, the company has confirmed it is launching PeterboroughLive as a standalone digital brand within CambridgeshireLive.  Both sites are due to go live on 1 January.

The move will see the creation of five new jobs, with a team of four journalists to be hired to cover Bedfordshire and an additional reporter for Peterborough.

It brings the total number of brands in the live network to 40 to date.

The launch of PeterboroughLive opens up the prospect of a three-way battle for readers in the city between JPIMedia’s Peterborough Telegraph and Archant’s Peterborough Matters, set up this year with Google funding.

BedfordshireLive will be in competition with online-only independent title the Bedford Independent, launched in the wake of Bedfordshire Midweek’s closure, while JPIMedia titles the Luton News, Bedford Times & Citizen and Biggleswade Chronicle also circulate in the county.

David Higgerson, chief audience officer at Reach, said: “Launching in Bedfordshire is something we have had an eye on for a while, and we feel it’s a county which will embrace our style of local journalism, which aims to inform and involve readers every day.

“Peterborough is an area where we have seen strong organic growth to our Cambridgeshire-wide coverage so it’s an obvious next step to put full-time roles to work with a population which is growing rapidly.

“For local news to be sustainable, it needs to be popular and appreciated by readers. Our approach of putting readers at the heart of every decision we make in newsrooms has helped our brands grow quickly, with loyal reader numbers outpacing overall growth across the country.”

David Bartlett, pictured, audience and content director London and the South East, added: “The launch of BedfordshireLive is incredibly exciting and I’m delighted we are returning to the county with a fresh approach for readers.

“We started to focus on Peterborough more a couple of years ago when we launched CambridgeshireLive. This additional investment will deepen our commitment to one of England’s great cities.

“People in Peterborough can look forward to being even better served and we can’t wait to recruit to take our coverage to the next level.”

Bedfordshire Midweek was closed after eight months in June 2018 after Reach decided it was no longer viable.  It had replaced predecessor title Bedfordshire on Sunday which closed the previous year after 40 years in print.