Audiences are contributing an increasing share of the total global newspaper revenue, according to the latest World Press Trends report released by WAN-IFRA.
The survey includes data from more than 70 countries, accounting for more than 90 per cent of the global industry’s value.
Highlights from this year’s study:
- Global readership: More than 2.7 billion adults are reading print newspapers around the world. Digital newspaper readership continues to grow and in some of the most developed economies readership on all digital platforms has surpassed the number of readers in print. The World Press Trends report estimates that at least 40% of global Internet users read newspapers online.
- Mobile growth: Mobile growth represents a huge opportunity for newspapers and news brands. In the US, more than 80% of people engaged with newspaper digital content and more than 70% of Australians and Canadians read a newspaper via digital device..
- Influence: Combined with magazines, newspapers are the third largest cultural and creative industry in the world. The two industries combined create 2.9 million jobs worldwide.
- Circulation: Print circulation increased by 4.9% worldwide, with a five-year growth of 21.6%.
- Global revenues: In 2015, newspapers generated an estimated US$ 90 billion from print and digital circulation, and $78 billion came from advertising. Global newspaper revenues were down by 1.2% year-over-year in 2015, and are down by 4.3% over the last five years. Approximately 92% of global newspaper revenues come from print, down 1% from 93% in 2014. Print ad revenues fell by 7.5% and have shrunk by 24% over the past 5 years.
The 2016 survey results were presented at the World News Media Congress in Cartagena, Colombia.
