
Trend report stressing revenue diversification for news industry
For the first time, print circulation and advertising revenues account for less than half of publishers’ total revenues. This underscores a major shift in the industry, as publishers increasingly tap into digital and alternative revenue streams to stabilise their businesses in a rapidly changing media landscape, a trend report from Worlds Association of News Publishers shows. Generative AI platforms is the sector with which publishers’ relationships have improved the most.
“This is a particularly interesting top-line result, given that the media industry is seemingly somewhat divided on how to engage with this emerging segment of the tech industry”, WAN/IFRA says in a report.
A recent global survey by Reuters Institute shows that despite difficulties, many traditional news organisations remain optimistic about the year ahead – if not about journalism itself. Uncertain times tend to be good for business and the prospect of ‘Trump unleashed’ could lead to a surge in web traffic and even in subscriptions.”
In addition to AI companies, relationships with messaging and video platforms have improved the most, the WAN report shows.
The report says that the interest in messaging is likely to be in the context of “publishers increasingly focusing on direct communication tools (with some perhaps shifting their focus away from social media).”
Print is still the largest source of income for our survey respondents. On average, print circulation and advertising together account for almost 45% of respondents’ revenues. This is the first time in WAN/IFRA research that this figure has fallen below 50%. The survey comprises over 240 senior media executives across 85 countries.
The average revenue from digital activities is more than 30% of total revenue, up about 7 percentage points since last year. Digital circulation and digital advertising revenues contribute equally to respondents’ bottom lines.
“Other” revenue sources (those not related to circulation or advertising) also show significant growth. They now account for 23.8%, an increase of 5 percentage points since last year.
“It is also worth noting that, on average, “other” revenue sources now bring in as much revenue as print circulation”, WAN/IFRA says in the report.
The survey shows that events continue to play an important role for publishers looking to diversify their revenues. 29% cite events (in-person and online) as a significant additional revenue stream for them.
“Beyond events, the data shows that publishers are experimenting with a wide range of activities to create new revenue sources. Among these, grant funding has become an important (though still relatively small) source of revenue after events for the second year running. Many publishers are also generating significant income from business services.”
13% say that various forms of membership are an important source of revenue for them (up from 5% last year).
Editorial and content production costs account for almost 37% of average total costs, up almost 9 percentage points on last year.
“Meanwhile, print production costs continue to fall as publishers streamline their print logistics and some reduce their print runs. Print costs are now 15% of total costs, down from 17.8% last year.”
The survey shows that publishers spent less on product development last year. In 2023, this activity accounted for 12.8% of their company’s costs, but in 2024 this figure fell to 6.9%.
“This may be at least partly due to many publishers refocusing on maintaining and developing existing products rather than building new ones.”
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