New Report — World Press Trends Outlook 2023–2024 (World Association of News Publishers)

A global survey from WAN-IFRA highlights key trends in revenues, digital transformation and AI

First published at the end of January for WAN-IFRA members only, I am delighted to be able to share more widely the latest World Press Trends outlook study that I was involved with. (Scroll down for an embed. Download it here.)

As Dean Roper, the Director of Insights and Editor-in-Chief of WAN-IFRA notes:

“After the sobering read seen in our 2022–23 report, this year’s World Press Trends study strikes a more cautiously optimistic note, with more than half of the respondents conveying a positive outlook about their companies’ business prospects for the foreseeable future.

This is despite publishers grappling with challenges on various fronts, including elevated inflation and interest rates, surging paper and printing expenses, continual shifts within advertising markets and audience behaviours, as well as wider geopolitical uncertainty reflected in conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East and elsewhere.

Meanwhile, wider strategic challenges such as the surge of Generative AI, changing relationships with platforms and continued challenges to press freedom and freedom of expression, also continue to vex many journalists and publishers.

In response, news publishers are inevitably looking closely at their revenue strategy, investment priorities, areas of focus, cost management, and their stance on areas such as AI and other technologies. We delve into these themes extensively within this report.”

“This report is primarily based on the findings of an online survey distributed to WAN-IFRA members and other senior media executives between July and September 2023, and was available in four languages (English, French, Spanish and German).

Survey participants were typically members of the senior team at a newspaper or a newspaper group. Based on the information provided by our respondents, a third (66%) are C-Suite (CEOs, Publishers, Managing Directors). A further third is either a Commercial Director/Heads of Strategy or Executive Editor.

We received 175 complete responses from 60 nations around the world. Using classifications developed by the World Bank, 58% of respondents come from developed economies and 42% from developing economies. Our sample also features a wide range of different countries with respondents coming from countries as diverse as Argentina, Canada, Russia, and Indonesia. They also came from some of the world’s largest media markets, including Germany, India, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

Through the data and insights that they provided, we are able to comprehend the attitudes of today’s industry leaders in a variety of business and editorial roles. Their observations, regarding the sector’s present and future, can be seen throughout this report.

As ever, we want to express our appreciation to everyone who participated in this annual survey. This report would not be possible without their contributions.

A huge thank you to all of our contributors: Damian Radcliffe, Dr. Francois Nel, and Teemu Henriksson. Last but not least, this report would not be possible without the support of our partner, Stibo DX.”

For more information, please contact: Dean Roper — dean.roper@wan-ifra.org