Reach is bolstering its hyperlocal news platform InYourArea with a significant investment that will create 57 jobs, including 43 new commercial positions aimed at attracting more advertisers to the local news platform.
The majority of the commercial opportunities are for sales executives and lead generators, but Reach is also on the hunt for a sales manager. Most of the roles will be based in Nottingham, with others in Liverpool.
The recruitment drive is designed to further monetise the InYourArea site now that it has a substantial user base (2.5 million), with the commercial division talking to more advertisers about how they can capitalise on InYourArea’s hyper-targeting.
It is at the crux of newly arrived chief executive Jim Mullen’s plans to expand Reach, which owns the Daily Mirror and Manchester Evening News, and follows an announcement in November that it was investing in regional live news with seven digital launches and 46 editorial hires.
In December, Mullen appointed Facebook’s Maureen McDonagh to the newly created role of chief customer officer.
Meanwhile, 10 new editorial roles – based in Bristol, Liverpool and Manchester – have been created, including a community editor, online community editor and several community content curators. They will report to editor-in-chief Ed Walker.
Reach said that many of the 57 job descriptions are available on its careers website, with the remainder to be posted later this month.
InYourArea was launched in 2017, with Reach claiming it is demonstrating double-digit monthly growth. The platform uses reader postcodes to generate relevant local news and information, such as house prices, planning applications and traffic and travel updates. InYourArea gleans stories from Reach’s own publications and third-party sources. It also enables national and regional advertisers to use its localisation to target consumers.
Mullen said: "InYourArea has already shown impressive growth in a relatively short time and this further expansion extends our leadership journey in the growing hyperlocal sector.
"Through these investments, we are continuing to bolster a highly engaged online readership in every corner of the country, while also securing the future of our trusted regional journalism."
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