Media publishers less positive about their prospects than last year, new Reuters Institute research finds

Worries over rising costs, lower expected advertising revenue and a softening in subscriptions is causing news chiefs to feel more gloomy about 2023 than 2022, according to new research from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.

Less than half–only 44%–of a sample of news chiefs feel positive about what this year holds for the industry, the research found.

The related annual report-Journalism, Media and Technology Trends and Predictions 2023-also reveals that most publishers (72%) are worried about news avoidance and the difficult of engaging audiences with important topics such as politics and the war in Ukraine.

Other key findings include:

• News executives are planning to put more effort into engaging young audiences on TikTok (+63 net score) and much less effort into both Facebook (-30) and Twitter (-28) with platform uncertainty adding to the pressures.
• Many publishers will be putting more resources this year into podcasts (72%) and newsletters (69%).
• The majority say they are also already using Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies to help create more personalised content.

The report is authored by Senior Research Associate Nic Newman and is based on a survey of 303 CEOs, editors and digital leaders from 53 key countries.

He said: “Publishers that have built a loyal base of subscribers or have diversified revenue streams are in the best position to weather the storm, but those that continue to rely on print are likely to struggle.

“We can expect more layoffs and industry consolidations across countries this year”

The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism is dedicated to exploring the future of journalism worldwide.