NEWS2 June 2015
US — Global newspaper circulation revenues are larger than newspaper advertising revenues for the first time this century, according to new figures.
The annual World Press Trends survey covers more than 70 countries and accounts for more than 90% of the global industry’s value.
It revealed that newspapers generated an estimated $179bn in circulation and advertising revenues in 2014; of this, $92bn came from print and digital circulation and $87bn came from advertising.
“The basic assumption of the news business model – the subsidy that advertisers have long provided to news content – is gone,” said Larry Kilman, secretary general of WAN-IFRA (World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers), the global organisation for newspapers and news publishers.
“We can freely say that audiences have become publishers’ biggest source of revenue.”