Newsbrands: Newspapers struggling to stay afloat in perfect storm
To In 75% High Advertising For Of Have A In Revenues €367m From €87m Print 2019 Dropped 2007
News publishers are "struggling to stay afloat in a perfect storm of the pandemic and other issues", an Oireachtas committee has been told.
Vincent Crowley, chairman of newspaper representative body NewsBrands Ireland, told the Oireachtas Committee on Media that the paradox of the Covid-19 pandemic is that publishers are now reaching more readers than ever, but this is not being translated in advertising.
Mr Crowley said supports through government advertising and staff payment supports are welcome, but added that other measures must be taken to keep the industry alive.
"The economic model which once sustained newspapers is broken. Revenues for print advertising have dropped 75% from a high of €367m in 2007 to €87m in 2019. The forecast for 2020 is around €60m.
"This decline has not been replaced by digital advertising, which is being hoovered up by the likes of Google and Facebook, who took €425m in digital advertising from this market last year, compared with €26m for national news publishers."
He said that if the committee believes that public-interest journalism is something worth fighting for, they can support the industry in the longer term by:
- Reducing VAT to 5% on newspapers and on digital products, ultimately reducing VAT to 0%, as is the case in Britain and other EU countries.
- Tackling the dominance of the tech platforms in the digital advertising market.
- Completing the long-overdue review of the defamation act and reforming draconian defamation laws and high legal costs, which have the potential to put publishers out of business.
"In the shorter term, subsidies should be considered for the distribution and posting of newspapers," he said.
Frank Mulrennan of Local Ireland, a representative body of 46 weekly local newspapers in the country, said his industry publishes "vital, trusted, and needed public information" but is facing major challenges. He said circulation across the industry is down 22%
"In reality, our industry is still badly impacted by the last recession and the digital dominance of the likes of Facebook and Google."