Number of US media employees down 57% since 2004
Circulation revenue for the US newspaper industry was last year higher than advertising revenue, for the first time since 2004, when Pew Research Center started compiling statistics. But number of media employees has fallen 57% since 2004.
Total estimated circulation revenue 2020 was $11.1 billion, compared with $11.0 billion in 2019. Total estimated advertising revenue in 2020 was $8.8 billion, down 29% from 2019.
Digital advertising accounted for 39% of newspaper advertising revenue in 2020, up from 35% in 2019 – compared with 17% in 2011.
The estimated total daily newspaper circulation (print and digital combined) in 2020 was 24.3 million for weekday and 25.8 million for Sunday, each down 6% from the previous year.
In the fourth quarter of 2020, there was an average of 13.9 million monthly unique visitors (across all devices) to the top 50 US daily newspapers. This is up 14% from 2019, which itself was 5% higher than 2018.
In 2020, 30,820 people worked as reporters, editors, photographers, or film and video editors or operators in the newspaper industry, down 12% from 2019 and 57% from 2004.
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