World Press Trends 2016: Audience revenue share continues to grow

12 June 2016

UCLan Journalism Leaders Programme Director shares findings of global research project

Audiences are contributing an increasing share of the total global newspaper revenue, according to the annual World Press Trends survey released today by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).

Newspaper circulation revenue represents 53% of the overall industry revenue, underscoring the continuation of the trend identified last year: that audiences have become publishers鈥 biggest source of revenue.

"We all talk of being consumer-centric. We all talk of having a constant eye on the future. Now is truly the time to do what we say," said WAN-IFRA CEO Vincent Peyr猫gne who presented the survey at the 68th World News Media Congress, 23rd World Editors Forum and 26th World Advertising Forum in Cartagena, Colombia.

Mr. Peyr猫gne also announced the launch of the World News Media Outlook, a joint research project with the University of Central 成人视频鈥檚 (UCLan) Journalism Leaders Programme Director, Dr Fran莽ois Nel, and the University of Oxford that aims to provide news executives with the cutting-edge intelligence to help benchmark their companies鈥 performance and devise innovative strategies to ensure their businesses鈥 future success.

 

"I am delighted to add this key study to the family of World Press Trends reports that underline its role in providing key insights that support innovation in the news industry."

For the study, WAN-IFRA is calling for news media executives to participate through an .

鈥淭he Outlook will be a very useful step on the way to a new approach of measuring and assessing the performance and priorities of leading news companies worldwide. I am delighted to add this key study to the family of World Press Trends reports that underline its role in providing key insights that support innovation in the news industry.鈥

The World Press Trends survey includes data from more than 70 countries, accounting for more than 90 percent of the global industry鈥檚 value. The data is compiled through an enormous undertaking by dozens of national newspaper and news media associations and generous support from global data suppliers: Zenith Optimedia, IPSOS, PwC, ComScore, the Pew Research Center, and the ITU.

World Press Trends data showed that newspapers generated an estimated US $168 billion in circulation and advertising revenue in 2015. Ninety billion came from print and digital circulation, while 78 billion came from advertising, the survey said.

Total global newspaper revenues fell 1.2 per cent in 2015 from a year earlier, and are down 4.3 per cent over the last five years. WAN-IFRA estimates of global industry revenue again include data on non-daily revenue, which is estimated at US $8 billion.

 

University of Central 成人视频鈥檚 Dr Fran莽ois Nel
University of Central 成人视频鈥檚 Dr Fran莽ois Nel

"WPT data indicates that in most mature newspaper markets additional revenue brings between 7 and 20 per cent of overall revenue."

"Unfortunately, the way the industry measures value is still embedded in the old format-based methodology,鈥 said Mr. Peyr猫gne. 鈥淭he information on how much is earned from other, often new sources of revenue is lacking, despite the fact that they are becoming an important part of the revenue mix. WPT data indicates that in most mature newspaper markets additional revenue brings between 7 and 20 percent of overall revenue,鈥 said Peyr猫gne.

More than 2.7 billion of adults are reading newspapers in print globally. Digital newspaper readership is growing, and in some of the most developed economies readership on all digital platforms has surpassed the number of readers in print. World Press Trends analysis estimates that at least 40 per cent of global Internet users read newspapers online.

The challenge for the industry remains the combined measurement of reach and influence of newspaper content on all platforms with new metrics.