Dubai: Newspaper circulation numbers from the world over recorded a 2 per cent gain last year, while paid digital subscription was up 60 per cent in the same period, according to the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-Ifra). Around 2.5 billion people read newspapers in the print format, while 800 million do so over smartphones and tablets.
“If newspaper companies cannot produce sufficient revenues from digital, if they cannot produce exciting, engaging offerings for both readers and advertisers, they are destined to offer mediocre products with nothing to differentiate them from the mass of faux news,” said Larry Kilman, secretary general of WAN-Ifra, in the report. “Despite all the free offers, people still want to pay for professionally written and edited news.”
In 2013, Latin America was the region with the highest growth in readership for print (up 2.56 per cent), followed by Asia (1.45 per cent). This shows, according to WAN-Ifra, that print circulation continues to rise in countries with a growing middle-class and where internet is available only in relatively small bandwidths.
More mature markets for news consumption are migrating to online. In the Australia and Oceania zone, print subscription was down 9.94 per cent from the 2012 numbers, while North America recorded a 5.29 per cent drop. Europe’s decline was 5.20 per cent, and in the Middle East and Africa it was by 1 per cent.
Print advertising worldwide dropped 6 per cent last year compared to 2012, while on digital platforms, there was a growth of 11 per cent last year and 47 per cent over five years. While digital advertising will grow, it still represents a smaller share of total revenues of media companies. Last year, revenues generated by print remained stable at $163 billion (Dh598.6 billion), but below 2008’s $187 billion.
The WAN-Ifra report highlights the need for newspaper publishers to continue using the web platform to pull in readers. Here’s a stat that should get publishers thinking — while 46 per cent of internet users visit newspaper sites, this is only 6 per cent of the overall traffic on the web, 0.8 per cent of page views and 1.1 per cent of time spent on digital platforms.
