Summary

Report supported by our technology partner Protecmedia:

The foreword, by Lisa MacLeod, Head of Digital, Tiso Blackstar, South Africa, and Vice President, WAN-IFRA:

The past few years have seen unprecedented change in the media and publishing industry: platforms have become a middleman between publishers and readers, world leaders have launched attacks on the media and press freedom, "fake news" proliferates, and advertising – both print and digital - is under pressure.

More than ever, quality, trusted journalism not only matters, but is critical to citizens around the world. This year, the World Press Trends report goes deeper and broader, incorporating data from most of WAN-IFRA's partners and national associations, as well as intelligence from the World Bank, Edelman's Trust Index, Outlook survey data, and the Reporters Without Borders' Press Freedom Index.

The report also uses more advanced statistical analysis techniques to interrogate the data sets, identify trends and most importantly, to make some robust forecasts for the industry.

Did you know, for example, that leaders at profitable companies are significantly more likely to prioritise diversity in their organisations than those at unprofitable companies?

We at WAN-IFRA hope that insights like this will be valuable to you as you work out strategies in your organisations for change management, budgeting and hiring.

In times of uncertainty, the World Press Trends report will be a guiding light for publishers making sense of the environment today, and more importantly, in planning for the future.

Data, trends, key takeaways

Francois NelThe report analyses the data collected from WAN-IFRA’s annual survey of more than 70 countries, in addition to the insights and data from its global data partners (ZenithOptimedia, IPSOS, PwC, Chartbeat). This year's analysis was conducted by: Dr. François Nel, Reader in Media Innovation at the Media Innovation Studio, University of Central Lancashire, Dr. Coral Milburn-Curtis, Associate Fellow at Green Templeton College, University of Oxford, and Prof. Castulus Kolo, Macromedia University of Applied Sciences, Munich (Germany)

Coral Milburn-CurtisThe report features a number of key industry statistics and findings, such as:

• The impact of trust on the performance of news and the revenues of news media companies worldwide is undeniable.
• Trust in media may be at an all-time low but trust in journalists and quality journalism is on the rise, particularly compared to platforms
• Publishers' primary revenue streams face increasing pressure, while digital reader revenue continues to shine.
• Industry overall revenue (primary revenue streams) contracted by 1.8% (YoY 2016-2017), in large part due to the continued decline in print revenues, which still make up about 90% of publishers' revenues.
• Publishers continue to turn their focus to a more user-, consumer-centric business model, as evidenced by audience revenues outpacing advertising revenues by a good margin.
• Despite the turmoil in digital advertising, ad spend continues to grow, and to compete with tech giants (and pool resources and brand prestige), publishers are increasingly forming ad alliances all over the world.
• Users are more likely to land directly on publishers' sites (primarily from mobile) than they are to arrive there from social. But dark social (newsletters, etc.) are helping this direct relationship.
• Publishers have indeed accelerated innovation in the pursuit of digital transformation, but the lingering question is: Is it quickly enough?
• A publisher's ability to transform in this light depends on a number of regional, national, social, political factors, our research finds.