Madrid - Spain's third-biggest daily ABC will cut its staff by about a half to 218 people, media reports Wednesday quoted its owner Vocento as saying.

The media group said the cuts were necessary to ensure the survival of ABC and to adapt it to market conditions.

In 2008, ABC had still been the only Spanish newspaper to strongly increase its distribution, which went up 10 per cent to 250,000 copies a day.

But the conservative daily, which is Spain's third-largest newspaper of general interest after El Pais and El Mundo, has been hit by a decline in advertising revenue because of the financial crisis.

Employees' representatives pledged to fight the plans to cut jobs. (dpa)