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WAN-IFRA’s annual ‘World Press Trends’ report released at #WPE14

More than half the world’s adult population reads a daily newspaper, and while digital is growing, newspaper companies still receive a large majority of their global revenue from their print versions, according to the 2014 World Press Trends report released by WAN-IFRA this week.

by WAN-IFRA Staff executivenews@wan-ifra.org | October 16, 2014

Members and research and news industry experts, news media associations and other partners gathered in Amsterdam for the World Publishing Expo this week, were present at its official release. They welcomed the report, which collects data from more than 70 countries that represents more than 90 percent of the global industry base.

World Press Trends, which WAN-IFRA has published annually since 1989, is the primary source of data on the newspaper industry world-wide, with global, regional and national data on newspaper circulation, reach, advertising revenues, digital trends and demographic information.

“Our goal is to depict the global newspaper industry through relevant metrics, and to provide insight into the trends that most affect the industry,” said Teemu Henriksson, coordinator of World Press Trends, “but the measurements, particularly of digital media, are not standardised, making comparisons difficult. And they continue to evolve as media converge and change.”

Mr Henriksson said the World Publishing Expo and release of the 2014 report were a timely opportunity to discuss the future aims of World Press Trends and how to adjust the data to reflect rapid transformation.

“As newspapers move from print to multi-platform media organisations, the metrics have to be updated accordingly,” he said. “While the industry gathers extensive data on the print world, it continues to face challenges in getting a true picture of the reach and impact of publishing across multiple platforms.”

The 2014 report, which provides a comprehensive picture of the structure, value and economics of the newspaper industry, offered insights into its major trends:

  • 2.5 billion people read a daily newspaper — and more than 800 million in digital form.
  • The newspaper industry generates more than US$160 billion of revenue globally from content sales, advertising revenues and increasingly other forms of diversified revenue streams.
  • Though digital audience and revenues are growing substantially, 93 per cent of newspaper company revenues globally continue to come from print.

The data is drawn from supportive national newspaper and media associations and other contributors, with assistance from a wide range of global partners, including Zenith Optimedia for advertising trends, IPSOS for national print audience levels, ComScore for digital audience behaviour, PwC for global industry revenue trends, and RAM for editorial and advertising effectiveness.

WAN-IFRA said the report will be a valuable resource in developing the 2015 edition to reflect the changing face of news media. This edition which will be presented at the World News Media Congress, World Editors Forum and World Advertising Forum, to be held in Washington, DC, from 1 to 3 June 2015.

More on World Press Trends, including subscriber information, can be found at https://wan-ifra.org/wpt.

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