Summary

Report supported by technology partner:

Welcome to the 2016 World Press Trends Report, the definitive guide to the global newspaper and news media industry – in numbers, trends and changes. The report explores global trends that defined the news media business in 2015 and are continuing to shape it. The report is drawn from WAN-IFRA's World Press Trends database, which includes national reports and tools to export the data in customised reports. For those who need more flexibility than the written report provides, the World Press Trends database is available through subscription.

Today, more than 2.7 billion adults are reading newspapers in print globally. Digital newspaper and news media 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% of global internet users read newspapers and news media online.

In line with the trend we have identified last year, audiences continue to contribute the majority of revenues for news media companies. World Press Trends data shows that newspapers generated an estimated US$ 168 billion in circulation and advertising revenue in 2015. Eighty-nine billion dollars (53%) came from print and digital circulation, while $79 billion came from advertising. Together with magazines, newspapers are the third largest among all cultural and creative industries globally, and the two sectors are said to be creating around 2.9 million jobs worldwide.

Newspapers and news publishers have been tackling digital transformation for years, but 2015 was a breakthrough year for growing their online audiences and online revenues, as legacy news media often produced better journalism and higher subscription and advertising revenues than did their pure digital competitors.

One of the primary challenges for the industry remains new analytics tools and new metrics for news media content on all platforms. Publishers will be unable to successfully charge for their content and sell their advertising inventory to their full potential until they are able to properly plan and evaluate their content performance and really understand most aspects of their audience journey. It’s all about what we make of the big, but also small, data about our audiences. World Press Trends and other research and publishing initiatives of WAN-IFRA aim to contribute to better understanding of the new role that newspaper media will play in the digital world. The content and our role in producing the news and great journalism is what matters. In 2016, there is a renewed understanding of the value and importance that news media bring to societies.

You will also notice that we are increasingly using the term “news media” instead of “newspaper,” which has become an inadequate descriptor of our industry. We have gone a long way from the mass media industry that was defined by the medium and not by the message. Even though most research institutions still differentiate consumption and advertising on different mediums, our industry produces content that is consumed on all platforms.

About WPT

The World Press Trends survey includes data from more than 70 countries, accounting for more than 90% of the global industry’s 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: PwC Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2016-2020, Zenith, Ipsos, comScore, the Pew Research Center and ITU.