DevonLive

About DevonLive

DevonLive is the digital news brand for the county of Devon in South West England, published at devonlive.com by Reach plc. Launched in February 2017, it was created as a county-wide online newsroom serving one of England's largest and most diverse counties — from the cities of Exeter and Plymouth to the seaside resorts of Torbay, the market towns of the interior, and the surf beaches and moorland of North Devon. As the online face of Reach's Devon operation, it works alongside the company's historic print titles including the Exeter Express & Echo, the Torquay Herald Express, the Western Morning News and the North Devon Gazette. Since its launch it has grown into one of the most-read news websites in the South West, combining breaking news, live blogs, campaigning journalism and community content across a patch that stretches from the Jurassic Coast to the Cornish border.

History and Founding

DevonLive was set up in February 2017 by Trinity Mirror, the publisher that would later rename itself Reach plc. The launch was part of a company-wide strategy of creating dedicated "Live" digital brands for counties and cities across the UK, bringing the publisher's local journalism together under recognisable online identities. Patrick Phelvin, a journalist with 18 years at the company who had previously edited the Exeter Express & Echo — the newspaper he first joined as a reporter — was appointed as the founding editor of DevonLive.

Phelvin later described launching DevonLive.com as one of the high points of his career. He led the site through its first 16 months before departing in June 2018 to become head of communications for the Office of the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner. He was succeeded by Richard Booth, the site's head of content, and in May 2020 Alex Richards — who had joined as a trainee digital reporter on the Express & Echo in 2015 and risen through deputy head of content and head of content — was unveiled as the new site editor, pledging to continue what he called the site's "dazzling growth".

Mission and Coverage Focus

DevonLive's mission is to be the go-to website for news, sport and entertainment across the whole of Devon, 24 hours a day. Its coverage spans the county's two cities — Exeter, the county town, and Plymouth — the resorts of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham, the market towns of Barnstaple, Tiverton, Honiton, Newton Abbot and Totnes, the rural heartlands of Mid and West Devon, and the coastal communities of the north and south coasts.

Core beats include breaking news and crime, the courts, Devon and Cornwall Police, the NHS and the county's hospitals, education, transport — including the railways, the A30, A38 and the North Devon Link Road — tourism and the visitor economy, farming and the rural economy, property, food and drink, and sport, with extensive coverage of Exeter City, Plymouth Argyle and Torquay United. Dedicated channels — including Torbay Live, Exeter Live and North Devon Live, the last launched in June 2021 with a team of three dedicated reporters — allow the site to serve distinct communities within the county in depth.

Ownership and Funding

DevonLive is owned by Reach plc, the UK's largest commercial news publisher. Reach's South West operation, led by an editor-in-chief for Devon and Cornwall, runs DevonLive alongside sister sites Cornwall Live and Plymouth Live and a portfolio of historic print titles including the Western Morning News, the Exeter Express & Echo, the Torquay Herald Express and the North Devon Gazette. Content produced by the DevonLive team is also used across these print titles, reflecting the integrated newsroom model.

The site is funded principally through digital advertising, together with the group's wider commercial revenues. Reach describes itself as the UK's number one news publisher, with more than 38 million people visiting its online network each month. Bill Martin, Reach's editor-in-chief for the South West at the time of the site's expansion, has credited the growth of DevonLive and Cornwall Live — which posted year-on-year audience growth of 35 and 70 per cent respectively — with giving the company the confidence to invest in new journalism roles in the region.

Editorial Approach

DevonLive operates as a digital-first newsroom, publishing continuously through the day and night. Its editorial approach combines the speed of online breaking news — with live blogs for major incidents, court cases, weather events and traffic disruption — with the depth of traditional regional reporting. The site's journalists cover the courts, councils, inquests and emergency services across the county, while audience-focused formats such as live traffic updates, "things to do" guides, nostalgia content and community stories broaden its appeal.

The tone is accessible and populist, pitched to a mass audience, with a strong emphasis on social media distribution through Facebook, X and Instagram. The site also runs the InYourArea hyperlocal platform content for Devon, one of the busiest counties for usage of Reach's community information service, and produces newsletters and a mobile app — the DevonLive app was reported to have 14,000 monthly users in 2020.

Audience and Reach

DevonLive has established itself as one of the most-read news websites in the South West. In 2020 Reach reported that both DevonLive and Cornwall Live boasted more than 100,000 readers a month, with readers of the two sites viewing a combined 25 million pages a month — figures that have grown substantially since. The site's audience spans the whole county and extends to the large numbers of people with second homes in Devon, former residents, and the millions of tourists who visit the county each year.

Its Facebook presence is particularly strong, with dedicated pages for DevonLive itself and for its hyperlocal channels including Torbay Live, Exeter Live and North Devon Live, alongside the six community pages model pioneered across the Reach Live network. The site's readership is broad and mainstream, reflecting Devon's mix of urban, coastal and deeply rural communities.

Digital Innovation

As a digital-native brand, DevonLive was built for the mobile and social era from the start. Its innovations include the sub-brand channel model — Torbay Live and Exeter Live were launched as dedicated sections of the site, followed by North Devon Live as a fully staffed channel — which allows hyperlocal coverage within a county-wide brand. The site makes heavy use of live blogging, video, interactive maps and data visualisations, and its journalists are trained in search optimisation, social storytelling and audience analytics.

The integration with InYourArea, Reach's hyperlocal information platform, gives DevonLive readers access to postcode-level news, planning applications and community notices, while the DevonLive app provides push notifications for breaking news. The site has also experimented with reader-driven formats, including nostalgia projects drawing on the archives of its historic print sister titles.

Notable Coverage

Since its launch DevonLive has covered the stories that have defined modern Devon: the devastating floods and storms that have battered the county's coastline and railways, the long-running saga of the railway line at Dawlish, the pressures on the NHS at the Royal Devon and Exeter and Derriford hospitals, the county's housing crisis and the tensions between the tourism economy and local communities, and the fortunes of its football clubs.

The site's campaigning journalism has had tangible impact. Its sustained campaign for improvements to the North Devon Link Road — the vital artery connecting Barnstaple and the north of the county to the M5 — was credited by Reach's regional management with helping to secure £60 million of investment in the route. The site has also campaigned on rural broadband, road safety and funding for the region's public services.

Community Impact

DevonLive's community impact is felt through both its campaigns and its day-to-day role as the county's digital noticeboard. Its appeals have raised money for local charities, hospices and community groups; its coverage of local heroes, community events and grassroots sport celebrates the life of the county's towns and villages; and its nostalgia content, drawing on more than a century of archives from the Express & Echo and other sister titles, connects readers with Devon's past.

The launch of dedicated channels such as North Devon Live, with reporters based in and focused on specific communities, was explicitly framed as a way to strengthen the site's service to areas that can feel distant from the county's urban centres — a recognition that in a county as large and dispersed as Devon, local journalism must go to where its readers are.

Awards and Recognition

DevonLive's journalists and its wider South West operation have been recognised in regional press awards, and the site's rapid audience growth has been held up within Reach as a model for the company's Live network. The "dazzling growth" cited by editor Alex Richards on his appointment in 2020 reflected a site that had, in three years, gone from a standing start to one of the biggest digital news brands in the West Country.

Recent Developments

In recent years DevonLive has continued to expand its footprint within Devon. The 2021 launch of North Devon Live, with dedicated reporters Ami Wyllie, Becky Dickinson and Alex Davis covering the area alongside content editor George Thorpe, deepened its presence in the north of the county. The site operates within a Reach South West structure that has created a regional content hub in Plymouth, bringing together the best of DevonLive, Cornwall Live and Plymouth Live while maintaining their distinct brands. As Devon's visitor economy, housing pressures and infrastructure challenges continue to generate stories of regional and national significance, DevonLive's role as the county's leading digital newsroom looks set to grow further.