Journal Media Limited, the company behind news app TheJournal.ie, made a loss of €574,000 in 2015, accounts filed to the Companies Office show.

The digital publishing group, set up by brothers Eamonn and Brian Fallon, has a deficit of €4.7 million on its balance sheet, the abridged accounts show. In the previous year, it recorded a loss of €846,000.

The Fallon brothers, who founded property portal Daft.ie in 1997, have continued to invest in the six-year-old TheJournal.ie and its offshoots, expanding its workforce. The company launched a new business site, Fora, in March of this year.

It employed an average of 44 people in 2015, including 27 in editorial, up from a total of 35 in 2014.

Native advertising

TheJournal.ie, edited by Susan Daly, was set up in 2010 to appeal to a younger audience keen on consuming news on their smartphones, which were then relatively new to the market.

The publisher adopted a “mobile-first” strategy in 2012, prioritising its apps above its desktop website. It is free to its readers, earning revenue from native advertising, the term given to online advertorial or sponsored content.

Daft.ie, the Fallon brothers’ main business, is a separate company, employing 39 people. Its operations, and that of sister company Adverts.ie, merged last year with Schibsted Media’s DoneDeal.ie, with the two ventures combining to form Distilled Sch Limited.