A. Guttmann
Research Lead covering media
Newspapers in Mexico - statistics & facts
Mexico is a key market for the print media segment in Latin America, second only to Brazil in terms of revenues. However, in 2021, the newspaper industry's revenue, largely impacted by the outbreak of COVID-19 in year prior, stood just above 6.4 billion Mexican pesos, representing an annual decrease of close to 20 percent. For a while the boom in reading digital newspapers showed promise for the industry but the latest figures indicate this hope was premature.
While for decades, newspapers were one of the most important media in Mexico, today we see the country following the global trend where print is losing its appeal and free online news is taking front stage.
Digital newspapers losing on popularity
Every year, Mexico asks how many of its literate adults read books, magazines, newspapers, comics, web pages, forums, or blogs – and the results have consistently plummeted. In 2015, the share stood above 84 percent; in 2023, below 69 percent. For a while hope was on the horizon when right after COVID-19 outbreak Mexicans started flocking to digital newspapers - in 2021 more than one in five were choosing to read this newspaper format. Yet, by 2023 this figure fell again, to a little over 13 percent, dousing the industry's enthusiasm.More news and less paper?
The ultimate challenge resides in paid digital subscriptions. Close to one out of six internet users surveyed in Mexico paid for digital news in early 2023. The question is whether the willingness to afford quality information might pave the way for the segment at large. The print newspaper revenue in Mexico was forecast to decline by 6.5 percent between 2022 and 2025, whereas the digital subsegment was projected to grow by more than 20 percent. However, free online sources are a threat to paid subscriptions. Roughly two-thirds of internet users in Mexico flock to social media to get news, while only a fifth of them choose print sources for this purpose. So not only is print trailing behind, paid digital is not fairing that well either.While for decades, newspapers were one of the most important media in Mexico, today we see the country following the global trend where print is losing its appeal and free online news is taking front stage.
