Kasia Davies
Research expert covering the German market
Newspapers in Germany - Statistics & Facts
The German newspaper market has been seeing decreasing revenue since 2011. This is a result of people opting to get their news information online as opposed to in print.
Although newspapers are still seen as a reliable news source their popularity is declining. The industry is shifting and making more and more content online which is usually available through a subscription. It will always be important for people to have factual sources when they want to inform themselves, however, what these sources look like is changing.
Newspaper circulation
Total figures on daily newspaper circulation in Germany further confirm a decrease in copies printed, with 10.2 million recorded in 2024. For comparison, ten years earlier over 19 million copies were printed, which also already followed annual drops in numbers. Even the Sunday edition of Germany's best-known tabloid, Bild am Sonntag, was struggling with paid circulation in recent years. Meanwhile, monthly unique user numbers on the Bild website, though fluctuating, recorded periodical growth. This is probably due to digitalization and peoples’ preference to consume their media online.Are e-papers the future?
The paid circulation of daily and Sunday newspapers in Germany has been decreasing for over twenty years now, amounting to 11.5 million copies sold in 2023. At the same time, e-paper versions have seen increasing sales. This example illustrates a continuous trend in the print media industry, namely a constantly growing preference among consumers for online media consumption. In this case, consumption relates to online or digital versions of newspapers formerly bought and read on paper.How are readers getting the news?
The Bild national daily edition recorded the biggest reach by far among German readers, followed by the Süddeutsche Zeitung and Die Welt. Consumers are also turning to new formats to keep up to date with current affairs. This includes podcasts which in recent years have become more and more popular. The most popular German podcast was ‘Was jetzt?’, which is created by the newspaper Zeit. This is an example of the development of the newspaper industry as companies have to develop in other media areas in order to continue revenue development. In 2023, almost 40 percent of people in Germany said that they used social media to read new stories, and although social media platforms have a reputation for spreading fake news this does not appear to be deterring consumers from getting their news there.Although newspapers are still seen as a reliable news source their popularity is declining. The industry is shifting and making more and more content online which is usually available through a subscription. It will always be important for people to have factual sources when they want to inform themselves, however, what these sources look like is changing.
