Pew Issues State Of Media Report

• Print losses have not been offset by digital gains
• Declines in advertising have resulted in deep cutting of newsroom staffs
• Local TV news lost audience in every major timeslot
• Cord-cutting continues apace on the cable TV side
• The percentage of Americans 12 years of age or older who have listened to online radio in the past month has once again continued to grow – rising from 53% in 2015 to 57%. That share is about double the percentage of Americans who had done so in 2010 (27%)
• Radio revenues remain steady in 2015

Those are among the findings of the 13th annual “State of the News Media” study by the Pew Research Center, released Wednesday.

According to The Denver Post, the reports indicated revenues continue to rise for the three main TV news networks, CNN, MSNBC and Fox News, notably in an election year. But the future isn’t so bright for TV: “With audience challenges already in view and few immediate financial incentives to innovate,” the study says, “the dilemma facing the TV news business bears an eerie resemblance to the one faced by the newspaper industry a decade ago.”

Newspaper companies in 2015 experienced their greatest decline since the recession years of 2008 and 2009, Pew reported. While web traffic now outpaces print circulation by a substantial margin, newspapers haven’t figured out how to monetize that online traffic.

“There is money being made on the web,” Pew reported, “just not by news organizations.” Digital ad spending grew another 20 percent in 2015 to about $60 billion, a higher growth rate than in 2013 and 2014. “But journalism organizations have not been the primary beneficiaries.”

By Pew’s count the pay TV world is shrinking as the number of cord-cutters increases. As many as one in seven Americans has turned away from cable or satellite TV subscriptions, Pew estimates.

Radio Revenue

AM/FM’s revenue from “spot” advertising declined 3% in 2015, while revenue from digital and off-air advertising both posted gains – 5% and 11% respectively. This revenue pattern largely mirrored that of 2014, when spot dollars were also down 3% for the year, but digital and off-air advertising had gains of 9% and 16% respectively. Still, digital and off-air ad revenues make up only about 18% of total advertising dollars in 2015 – a slightly larger share than one year ago (16%). Overall, revenue for the radio sector in 2015 was on par with 2014 levels.



The bulk (62 percent) of U.S. adults now get their news on social media sites. Fully 65 percent of digital ad revenues is claimed by just five tech companies. “None of these are journalism organizations, though several — including Facebook, Google, Yahoo and Twitter — integrate news into their offerings.”