Consumer habits changed during the pandemic, providing news media companies around the world with an unexpected boost. But now, as a post-pandemic world turns its attention away from the headlines and the economy creates new concerns, publishers are grappling with how to regain momentum and retain subscribers. 

During an INMA Webinar on Wednesday, INMA Researcher-in-Residence Greg Piechota, who leads the INMA Readers First Initiative, looked at some of the drivers of the slowdown and discussed possible solutions. Joining the discussion were Aleksandra Sobczak, deputy editor-in-chief at Gazeta Wyborcza in Poland; Phil Schroder, head of consumer engagement for Gannett in the United States, and Puneet Kukreja, head of product for The Economic Times in India.

To help members better understand the road ahead, Piechota first explained the current situation.

INMA analysed the data of 125 international news brands to measure Web site penetration and found that sessions dropped by 14% from the first quarter of 2021 to the second quarter of 2022. That’s a significant decrease. But when compared to the peak of the pandemic, there’s an even greater gap: Sessions are down 26.5% from the beginning of 2020 and the number of heavy users has dropped by one-third.

One seemingly incongruent finding is that despite declining engagement, digital subscriptions are enjoying growth, he said.

“When we look at the past three years of digital-only subscription base, we can see steady linear growth every year,” Piechota noted. Although that growth accelerated in 2020, overall it remained linear. “When we try to forecast what is going to happen in the third quarter, in the fourth quarter, using mathematics … we basically see forecasts telling us it’s going to grow again and again and again.”

However, a spike in cancellations could signal the end of that growth; the past few quarters have seen cancellations go up 34% compared to the first quarter 2021.

“So perhaps this heralds some reasons to be a bit more worried about the outlook,” he said, pointing to the current economic environment. “This is the time of great uncertainty. Consumer confidence [is] diving down.”

Pessimism about the economy is rising, which is making many consumers — about 74% — change their spending habits. And readers also are affected by news fatigue that is leading to news avoidance.

The most recent study by Reuters found that 38% of consumers worldwide are actively avoiding the news. Reasons cited for this avoidance include too much coverage of COVID-19 and politics, the negative effect it has on their mood, and concerns that coverage is biased and/or untrustworthy. 

Looking to the future

A poll of Webinar attendees found 81% had mixed feelings when it came to their confidence in subscription growth for the rest of the year. They believe the effects of the current situation will be felt for several months and it will take longer to recover. Although 7% were pessimistic about recovering, 12% expressed optimism about a quick rebound. The panel was also divided.

Both Kukreja and Schroder said they were optimistic about subscription growth.

Indian publishers have been working on their subscription journeys for the past couple of years and now are starting to see the fruits of their labor: “Most of the publishers right now are in a growth stage,” Kukreja said. “We believe next two years are going to have extremely high growth for Indian publishers and, post that, the winner will take it all.”

He said readers will try different publishers and figure out which publisher delivers the highest amount of value for the price — and that will determine who gains the biggest market share.

Schroder said he remained “very optimistic about the business” and said providing local essential content, as well as the national content through USA Today, will help the company continue to grow its subscriptions. “I’m optimistic that we will continue to grow as we go through the rest of this year and beyond.”

However, Sobczak expressed a less optimistic view of the future. Worries about a Russian invasion, coupled with the war in Ukraine, the resulting refugee crisis, skyrocketing inflation, and fears about having adequate energy supplies for the winter make it a challenging time for Poland.

However, that also increases the need for news: “In hard times, people need good journalism. They need good experts to explain things,” she said. “We also see that when our readers face problems, they look for information on how to solve them. And they don’t look for them just anywhere; they trust us. They trusted us during COVID. They trusted us when the war started. So I believe that in during the economic slowdown, they will stay with us and we will provide this information they need.”

Fighting news fatigue

One of the key concerns for publishers is how to offset the growing news avoidance trend. Changing what kind of news they provide could help news media companies regain interest.

Wyborcza had changed its coverage to meet readers’ needs and focused on two areas: saving money and mental health, Sobczak said. Journalists are writing stories and creating videos about how to pay less for things like food and transportation — and those stories have been extremely popular.

Mental health started gaining popularity as a coverage topic during the second year of pandemic as people struggle with isolation, parenting, remote work, and other things that created crises for them. “People needed advice, interviews with psychologists and psychiatrists, and also the support of being in the community,” she said. That has not only remained popular but has continued to grow.

Gannett also adjusted its coverage, adding a Good News newsletter each month that has enjoyed a high open rate and has been successful in driving traffic back to each publication’s Web site.

“The Tennessean in Nashville has a good news newsletter written by a columnist so every week on Friday, it’s all about good news,” he said. “I think it’s a really great piece to get out and remind people that everything’s not bad that is coming out of the world.”

Greg’s Readers First newsletter is a public face of a revenue and media subscriptions initiative by INMA, outlined here. Subscribe here. 

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