Overview
Report
reveals new insights about digital news consumption based on a YouGov survey of
over 20,000 online news consumers in the US, UK, Ireland, Germany, France,
Italy, Spain, Denmark, Finland, Brazil, Japan and Australia. This year's data
shows a quickening of the pace towards social media platforms as routes to
audiences, together with a surge in the use of mobile for news, a decline in
the desktop internet and significant growth in video news consumption online.
Link for the
Report | https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Reuters%20Institute%20Digital%20News%20Report%202015_Full%20Report.pdf
Press
Release
How surge in smartphones, social media could threaten online news providers
A surge in the use of smartphones as the leading
device for accessing online news and the growing influence of social media
could lead to an uncertain financial future for news organisations worldwide, a
think tank said on Tuesday.
Many news outlets are struggling to profit from
smartphone content as more people discover news through search engines and
social media rather than the front page of a news website, said the Reuters
Institute for the Study of Journalism.
Online advertising revenues are falling as smartphone
users, who spend half of the time on their devices reading news, become
increasingly frustrated by advertisements and so-called sponsored content, the
RISJ said in its annual Digital News Report.
"Most people like news and use news, but they
don't want to pay for it, don't want to see advertising around it, and don't
want to see it mixed up with sponsored content," said RISJ Director of
Research Rasmus Kleis Nielsen.
"This means sustainable business models remain
elusive even for those who succeed in building an audience," Nielsen said
in a statement as the report was released.
Only the most loyal smartphone users are using news
apps, as others rely on social media, messaging apps, email and mobile
notifications to read online news, the RISJ said.
While more than two-thirds of smartphone users have
downloaded news apps, only one-third use them on a weekly basis.
Four in 10 smartphone customers use Facebook to find,
read, watch, share and comment on the news each week - more than twice the
usage of its nearest rival, Youtube, and almost four times that of Twitter, the
RISJ said.
Newer networks such as WhatsApp, Instagram, and
Snapchat also showed the growing importance of social platforms worldwide, the
report said.
Although most smartphone users praised social media
for bringing them stories they would not have seen otherwise, they said they
had reservations about the accuracy and reliability of news found in this
manner, RISJ said.
Disappointed and
deceived
As smartphone users become increasingly dissatisfied
with pop-up advertisements and banners, more than four in 10 in the United
States and Britain regularly turn to ad-blocking software, the report found.
A third of smartphone users said they felt
disappointed or deceived after reading an article they later found had been
sponsored, while one in four people said it negatively affected their opinion
of the news organisation, according to the RISJ.
"Blurring the line between advertising and
editorial could harm the credibility of news brands, with little lasting impact
on advertisers," said Shaun Austin, director of media research for the
internet-based market research firm YouGov.
The report found that people's trust in news varied
greatly across countries, as at least six in 10 people in Finland, Brazil and
Germany said that they trusted the media, compared with only one-third in the
United States, Spain and Italy.
Source
| Mint – The Wall Street Journal | 17 June 2015
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