Overview
This lecture reviews global press trends, focusing on changes in print and digital newspaper circulation, advertising revenues, readership patterns, and demographic differences in news consumption.
Global Circulation and Revenue Trends
- Global print circulation revenue is steadily declining, with a 4% year-on-year drop in 2023 and further declines expected.
- Paid digital circulation (subscriptions, etc.) is growing, with an 8.4% increase in 2023.
- Developing markets (Asia, Africa, Latin America) sometimes show stable or increasing print circulation due to economic growth and lower digital access.
- Mature markets (North America, Western Europe, Australia) see marked print circulation declines.
- Globally, print circulation has not grown in the past five years; overall reach may be stable or growing due to digital.
- Newspaper advertising revenue worldwide is forecasted to reach $21.85bn in 2025 but with a -3.74% annual growth rate projected through 2030.
- The US is expected to lead in newspaper ad revenue, but digital media is making traditional newspaper ads less relevant.
Sources of Revenue
- Circulation revenue: print (23.8%), digital subscriptions (15.8%).
- Advertising revenue (print + digital): print ads alone are 36.6%.
- Other revenue (events, services, licensing) is about 24% for some publishers.
- Print circulation and ads together now often make up under 50% of publishers’ total revenues.
- Digital revenues contribute over 30% on average among surveyed publishers.
Global Readership Patterns
- About 2.1–2.5 billion people read printed newspapers regularly worldwide.
- Digital/online newspaper readership has grown, especially in developed regions.
- Combined daily reach of newspapers is approximately 1.9 billion people.
- Print readership remains stronger in countries with growing middle classes and low internet access.
Time Spent Reading
- Average global time spent reading newspapers dropped from 21.9 minutes/day (2010) to 16.3 minutes/day (2014-15).
- Projections show a further drop to about 14.1 minutes/day by 2017.
- Young readers (18-34, UK) spend more time with print than digital editions, but overall trend is declining print reading time.
- In the US, time spent on all media is shifting toward digital, with declines in print, radio, and TV.
Youth and Demographic Trends
- In France, 15-24-year-olds have the highest proportion of non-readers of daily newspapers (up from 30% to 42% in 10 years).
- Regular reading is marginal (10%) among youth, and digital and print formats are equally consumed by younger readers.
- Print audience is aging; each generation reads newspapers less than the previous one.
- Magazine reading is less affected; 59% of French people read magazines regularly, with high readership among youth and women.
- Specialized magazine offerings attract segmented audiences, including young people.
Top Countries by Newspaper Circulation
- China, Japan, India, and the United States have the highest print newspaper circulations.
- Iceland ranks highest by proportion of population reading newspapers daily (96%), followed by Japan (92%) and several Nordic and European countries.
- Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun has the largest circulation in the world (~8.56 million for morning edition in 2018), with Asahi Shimbun also notable.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Circulation Revenue — Income from print and digital sales or subscriptions of newspapers.
- Advertising Revenue — Earnings from selling advertising space in print and digital editions.
- Digital Circulation — Paid subscriptions or access to the digital version of newspapers.
- CAGR — Compound annual growth rate, shows the mean annual growth over a period.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Review WANIFRA reports for the most recent data on global press trends.
- Prepare summaries of key regional differences in press trends for class discussion.
- Complete any assigned readings on the economics of digital vs. print news media.