Newspaper Industry - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The newspaper industry works to inform people about current events happening all around the world. The newspaper industry is globally moving from traditional print technology to digital technology as everyone seems to generally prefer digital and mobile platforms. However, print media continues to be an attractive platform for image advertisers and premium segment readers in the global market. Diversifying revenue streams have become a big priority for publishers all over the world as traditional business models face pressure to generate revenue.

Digital publishing, diversified business models, changing distribution channels, strategic partnerships, and convergent platforms are driving the newspaper industry globally. Virtual reality is another area where publishers are starting to look at. Publishers are also focusing on building in-house data and analytics capabilities.

According to official sources, the daily paid circulation of newspapers was 60 million in 2000, and in 2016, that number had plummeted to 33.5 million which further went down to 28.6 million in 2018. As a result of this, publishers are turning their focus towards more consumer-centric business models which can outpace the digital platforms revenue by a good margin. Many newspapers are currently downsizing or going online because of internet reading subscribers rising globally.

Despite digital transformation print revenues are accounting for revenues over 80% of the market, globally revenues from print fell by over 1% only. Publishers are embracing creativity, experimentation, and new initiatives in the market. Furthermore, emerging imperative, especially for newspaper publishers are to play up their long-standing association with high-quality information. It is also observed that trust in journalists and quality journalism is on the rise, particularly compared to online platforms.

However, in the present scenario, advertisers are placing advertisements on social media than digital newspapers which can restrain the growth of the market. So, newspapers, in order to fund their operations, are looking to adapt with subscription models to the digital world.

Key Market Trends

Digital Newspapers and Advertising Markets are Expected to Grow Faster in the Newspapers Industry

Newspaper companies are expanding capabilities across different channels spanning from mobile, advertising technology, video, digital audio/podcasts, and data analytics/data mining. Digital platforms are acting as a medium between publishers and readers. Newspapers of all the media and entertainment segments are struggling with the digital content as they compete directly with the volume of content that is available for free online and other sources.

Digital platforms are continuously deriving revenues from digital readers in the market. Digital revenues are forecasted to grow at a higher rate than the print revenue in the newspaper market. Digital advertising revenues from the advertisers are also projected to grow at a growth rate of over 5% in the market. The big giants, like Google and Facebook, are also disrupting the digital advertisement market by their services and are gaining a large market share.

Publishers are getting better insights from websites for their customers, distributors, and stakeholders. Publishers with the digital-first model are investing significantly in building in-house data and analytics capabilities to exploit the digital market.

Asia Pacific is the Largest Market for Newspaper Industry

The Asia-Pacific was the largest region in the newspaper market, accounting for over 30% of the market in 2018. The key factor behind the growth of the Asia-pacific market is the growth of print and digital media in India and China. Other factors supporting the growing market are developing economy, middle-class population, and education in these markets. As more populations in these countries get educated, they will demand more newspapers to read and also browse through online content in the process, thus, helping the market to grow both by the print and digital technology.

The Indian market, when compared to other countries, has a steady growth in the print newspaper industry, while in other markets, it has been mostly overtaken by the digital market. Countries, like the United States and the United Kingdom, have shown a negative growth rate for the print newspaper industry, as more people have shifted onto digital platforms. However, consumers in the market are getting more and more aware of fake news from internet sources and are getting back to sources that can provide news in an authentic and convincing manner where they can build their trust.

Competitive Landscape

The newspaper industry is fragmented and is competitive in nature as there are many publishers competing in the market. The impact of trust on the performance of news and the revenues of news media companies worldwide is undeniable. More publishers are increasing their efforts to boost revenues from readers as advertising revenues are dwindling. Publishers are increasingly forming ad alliances all over the world to compete with tech giants, such as Google, in the market.

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• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
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