New revenue model for news media

Author Moonshot.news

Published on: 19/01/2026

After many years complaining that advertising revenue is falling and that digital subscriptions don’t compensate, news publishers say there is now a three-pillar optimistic revenue model. New revenue sources have been the most reliable growth over the last few years, increasing from 13.2% in 2021 to more than a quarter (25.2%) today, global news publisher organisation WAN-IFRA says in a trend report built on surveys. 

Events is the main area of activity in this area, with 32.2% saying they are an important revenue source, followed by B2B services content and Partnerships with platforms (both 16.1%),

“Print remains a resilient revenue source, with print circulation and advertising together accounting for 43.6% of our respondents’ total income and print overall remaining their largest single revenue source”, global publisher organisation WAN-IFRA says in a trend report built on surveys 

“However, the gap with other income sources is narrowing. Digital circulation and advertising together now represent 31% of respondent’s revenue, while income from other activities (events, B2B services, e-commerce, etc.) now accounts for an average of 25.4%.”

The report says that when compared with data from previous annual surveys, the trend is clear: over the last five years, print has declined from representing 56.2% of publishers’ total revenue to 43.6% today – a drop of almost ten percentage points. 

“While many publishers rely on growing digital revenues, our respondents indicate that these have mostly stagnated at around 30% over the last five years. Within this, digital circulation has largely been on a slight upward trend. However, digital advertising has proven to be an unpredictable revenue source (particularly in 2023, when those revenues dipped significantly).” 

Close to 93% of respondents identified AI and Automation as a top investment area for the coming year, closely followed by a related area Data Analytics and Intelligence, which is an investment priority for 90% of respondents.

Overall, 30.7%  say that their AI adoption at a Sophisticated/Advanced level, while 46.2% say it is Nascent. 

“Adoption appears strongest in newsroom operations, while there is still significant room for growth in using AI for monetisation and audience engagement”, the report says.

A recent trend report from Reuters Institute said that In 2026, news media are likely to be further squeezed between information produced by generative AI and creators/influencers who are driving a shift towards personality-led news, at the expense of media institutions that can often feel less relevant, less interesting, and less authentic.   

The new WAN-IFRA report says that attitudes towards creators and influencers vary, but the majority of publishers are optimistic about working with creators, with 60.3% viewing them as an opportunity for collaboration.

“Moreover, one third of respondents said they see opportunities in producing creator-like content internally within their newsrooms, while almost a quarter said they are hiring creators directly to work with their news brands. Only about one in six see this growing area of the media as a threat.”

45.5% said that media freedom had worsened in their country over the past year. Just over one in ten (10.6%) reported improvements in this area.

Majority of threats to media freedom are occurring in the digital sphere. Online harassment is the most prevalent threat, reported by 57.8% of the organisations featured in the report, followed by denial of access to information (50.0%). Almost half (45.3%) experienced cyberattacks in 2025.