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World Press Trends has always been about assessing the global reality of our industry – in numbers, context and nuance. And somewhat surprisingly, and encouragingly, our survey of publishers (conducted in October and November before the invasion of Ukraine) finds an industry challenged (no surprise there) but mostly optimistic about its business – today and in the near future.
This year’s report is inevitably shaped by the ongoing COVID pandemic. As we enter the third calendar year of the coronavirus crisis, there are signs that news publishers are beginning to feel confident that they have adapted to this current state of affairs, and that some of their early pandemic-era pivots are beginning to pay dividends.
At the same time, even if we are witnessing a resurgence in global advertising markets and a maturing of many reader revenue strategies, there remains considerable transformation and turmoil for publishers to contend with. The invasion of Ukraine has obviously undermined companies’ plans, as how that conflict will play out can have long-lasting effects on industries across the board, in addition to the humanitarian crisis it is causing. Other issues facing the news media include continued challenges to press freedom, like that we have witnessed in Russia.
Our analysis is rooted in an online survey distributed to industry leaders by WAN-IFRA in Fall 2021. We received 162 detailed responses, from 58 different countries. Based on World Bank classifications, these countries comprise 25 developed and 33 developing economies.
Here is a summary of some of the most important findings from our new 2021-22 research.
Set against the continued backdrop of COVID, survey respondents shared how the pandemic — as well as wider deep-rooted strategic challenges that pre-date this era — were continuing to define their work.
As we shall see, this includes a comprehensive look at changing revenue strategies and areas of investment, as well as attitudes towards digital transformation, and the challenges that news organisations across the globe are facing in terms of media and press freedom.
These different elements are consistently intertwined, with our research also showing clear links between media freedom and profitability.
Some quick takeaways
Optimism: More than eight of 10 (81.8%) of our sample told us that they were optimistic about their company’s prospects for the year ahead. That number dropped slightly to 78.8% of our sample when survey participants were asked about their projected confidence levels for the state of their business in three years’ time.
This positive outlook is global: There are some differences in optimism levels, not least, between developed and developing economies. However, overwhelmingly, respondents across the globe are upbeat about the current and future state of their industry.
Organisational transformation is well underway: Nearly half of participants (49.1%) described the level of digital transformation at their company as “very advanced” (12.7%) or “advanced” (36.4%). Only 10.9% indicated these efforts are “nascent” or “seriously lagging.”
Respondents expect revenues to grow in 2022: This is in contrast to 2021, where developed countries saw a quick bounceback from the financial challenges of 2020. Across our sample in developed countries revenues were up 21.8% in the past year.
News publishers are diversifying their revenues, but face a long road ahead: Income from non-advertising and readership sources grew by 4.7% last year. Collectively, this accounts for 13.2% of income at present, but respondents envisage that this will grow to 20% over the next 12 months.
Thanks to…
Our sponsor: Protecmedia has been very generously supporting World Press Trends for years now. A proven partner to hundreds of news media companies (and us!), be sure to check out their services and solutions.
Our contributors: Damian Radcliffe, longtime industry analyst, journalist and academic, authored most of the report for the first time, offering his analysis and context to the survey and emerging trends. Dr. Francois Nel, also a longtime analyst, well-known academic within our industry and contributor to WPT, provided his analysis, contribution and data analysis of all our collected data. WAN-IFRA’s Teemu Henriksson helped to coordinate the project along with Dean Roper.