Amy Watson
Research expert covering news and publishing
U.S. newspaper industry - statistics & facts
The newspaper industry in the United States has faced many challenges over the last twenty years. Social media has played its part in drawing audiences away from not only print publications but also their online counterparts. Many consumers around the world now getting their news from social networks, despite such sites being considered untrustworthy. Even leaders have found themselves needing to adapt to news audiences moving from print to digital outlets, though some have fared better than others.
Meanwhile, Gannett-owned newspaper USA Today’s print and digital circulation has also fallen dramatically, despite topping the ranking of leading newspapers in the United States during the last period of measurement. Other major papers including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, and The Los Angeles Times are also seeing a drop in their circulation, a trend which is sure to continue as consumers spend less and less time with traditional news sources.
The U.S. newspaper industry is fragile: newsroom employment, circulation, print advertising spending, and the number of local news outlets are all falling consistently each year. The immediate future of the market will see all the latter trends continue, whilst more local papers lose their fight to survive independently and are taken on by private equity firms and hedge funds.
Market leaders
Whilst The New York Times’ revenue remains high enough to keep the company profitable, the last ten years have been less lucrative than the early 2000s and revenue has not surpassed two billion U.S. dollars since 2010. However, The NYT was quick to adapt to changing consumer needs and demands, and now has over five million subscribers to its digital-only product. Other companies were slower on the uptake. Gannett’s digital subscriber base for example only surpassed one million in 2020, a milestone which The New York Times reached in early 2016.Meanwhile, Gannett-owned newspaper USA Today’s print and digital circulation has also fallen dramatically, despite topping the ranking of leading newspapers in the United States during the last period of measurement. Other major papers including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, and The Los Angeles Times are also seeing a drop in their circulation, a trend which is sure to continue as consumers spend less and less time with traditional news sources.
Newspaper readership
Just a fraction of all time with media in the United States is spent on printed newspapers. Data shows that newspapers are the least popular platform for daily news consumption for adults aged 18 to 34 years old, and aside from podcasts are also the last option for consumers aged 45 or above. Moreover, getting consumers to pay for news is a difficult task in a world where there is a wealth of free sources available online. It is hard to imagine consumers ever returning to printed newspapers, and figures on the number of closed or merged newspapers speak for themselves.The U.S. newspaper industry is fragile: newsroom employment, circulation, print advertising spending, and the number of local news outlets are all falling consistently each year. The immediate future of the market will see all the latter trends continue, whilst more local papers lose their fight to survive independently and are taken on by private equity firms and hedge funds.
