The Independent blamed Facebook for falling audience amid falling profits

Lord Lebedev partially owns The Independent Photo: JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP

The Independent blamed changes to Facebook's news feed for a drop in readership , as it reported a sharp drop in profits.

The leftist publication, partly owned by Lord Lebedev, saw a 6% drop in page views worldwide last year.

>In its most recent The Independent reported that Facebook's decision last summer to deprioritize publisher posts had «a detrimental effect on article views.»

He also blamed the declining audience on the slower U.S. news cycle after drew more readers last year with coverage of Donald Trump, the US elections, the metropolitan riots and Black Lives Matter.

In the UK monthly. article views fell 4.4% due to declining interest in topics such as Covid, Brexit and Boris Johnson. This was partly offset by the Russo-Ukrainian War, the jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II and her death.

The Independent closed its print publication in 2016 and switched to an online and app-only model. Its pre-tax profit fell by two-thirds from £5.5m to just £1.9m in the year to October 2022.

Executives blamed this on higher investment in international expansion, as well as reports and documentaries. products from Ukraine.

However, revenue rose 12% to a record £46.3m, marking the sixth year of profitable growth since the newspaper went digital-only.

< p>Despite the drop in page views, the digital edition has also reached the milestone of five million registered readers.

The Independent, which in January appointed former Daily Mail editor Jordy Greig as its editor-in-chief, continues its aggressive plan for international expansion, especially in the US.

The company also plans to expand in areas such as television, radio and e-commerce, to diversify your earnings.

John Paton, Chairman of Independent Digital News Media, said:

“We see Facebook as an important distribution channel for our journalism, but we also see the importance of diversifying our revenue streams.

“This is our sixth year in a row with a profit and we hit a record revenue with 12%. growth as a result of our focus on deeper investments in international expansion, e-commerce and television.”

The title has struggled since the end of the financial year as the digital advertising market has tumbled.

While its U.S. editorial team expanded, the company cut some 30 UK positions late last year.

The Independent was sold to the Lebedev family in 2010, originally owned by Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev, then taken over by to his son, Lord Lebedev.

The paper was also being scrutinized for its ties to Saudi Arabia after it sold a 30% stake to offshore companies to a Saudi businessman in 2018.

Justin Byam Shaw, a British media entrepreneur, also owns a significant stake in the business, with the remainder held by minority shareholders.