Reach, the UK’s largest publisher, has formally launched its Studio team.
The division incorporates a “fully blended” editorial and commercial team that will look to serve multimedia content both to audiences and advertising partners.
It will include multimedia talent across Reach, as well as branded content specialists.
Mark Field will lead the team as director of Studio, which also includes head of content Yara Silva, head of production and delivery Harrie Dumenil, head of events Michelle Linaker and head of design Spencer Rowbotham.
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The rest of the team, which comprises over 120 content specialists, promises to “continue to be geographically diverse” and will make use of Reach’s hubs including in London’s Canary Wharf, Manchester and Birmingham.
“Bringing together so much creative talent and enthusiasm into one team is a powerful thing,” commented Field. “With over 120 content specialists in the virtual ‘room’, ideas have been flowing since day one, from developing existing podcasts to producing new video shows and formats to creating content that our huge social audiences will love.
“While some of our people will have periods where they are more devoted either to commercial or editorial projects, bringing the team together will set the bar for audiovisual excellence in all of our multimedia content, whether a football podcast or a political vox pop.”
A number of publishers have sought to expand their multimedia footprint, especially as traffic from search and social has declined in the past year amid changes made to social platforms’ algorithms. Reach, in particular, has attributed a decline in traffic to Facebook.
Young audiences, however, commonly receive their news via social media and podcasts have become an increasingly popular format for news consumption. Hence Reach, the Daily Mail, The Sun and others have recently expanded their investment in multimedia content production.
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