Newspaper circulation revenues overtake ad revenues

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.”