Reuters Institute global trends to know for 2022

Oxford University’s Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism kicks off each year with a deep dive into the trends set to change media; here are the trends that matter to advertising.

Exiting the storm

The pandemic, which is now stretching out into its third year (if we take 2019 as the start), has been a busy time for news organisations. From the desperation of spring 2020 through the doomscrolling around the US presidential election that winter, year one was a busy time for news. 2021, meanwhile, was a more complicated, mixed bag of anxiety around new restrictions and fatigue. Breaking news was breaking us.

2022, then, looks set for more nuance. Our collective relationship with news as a global audience has, over the course of the crisis, threatened to spill out of control. This fits with a deeper trend toward direct payment for quality information and away from notification-driven breaking news addictions designed to maximise display advertising revenues. The Reuters’ Institute forecasts a continuation of the quality over quantity trend.

Its study is based on a wide-ranging survey of 246 news leaders in 52 countries.

The business view

• Revenues up, page views static. A majority (59%) of respondents to the Institute’s global survey of media leaders report revenue increases, while 54% also report static or dipping page views. Despite this, digital ads appear to be working well – notice, also, the growth of closed-loop digital commerce entering the advertising world, offering an enhanced affiliate revenue stream.
•  Subscriptions are the name of the game. 79% of leaders say this is a key revenue priority ahead of advertising.

How they’re setting up

• Podcasts and newsletters support subs. 80% of publishers say they will be growing their investments in podcasts and 70% will do the same for email newsletters, formats understood to grow both loyalty and new subscribers.
• Innovation over new product launches. Two thirds (67%) expect to spend the year iterating on and improving existing products; just 32% are planning on launching new products or brands. Though a lack of technical staff (or the money to pay them) appears to be the reason for this.

The wider view

• Social media influence is changing. Publishers plan to spend less time thinking about Facebook and Twitter while investing more effort into Instagram (+54pts), TikTok (+44), and YouTube (+43).
• The effects of tech regulation. Sometimes vague threats can spur action. Just under a third (29%) of news organisation leaders expect to see significant revenue from tech platforms for content licensing.
• 2022 is expected to be a year of consolidation, with deals like the New York Times’ half-billion dollar acquisition of specialist sports organ The Athletic typical of the need to build logged-in subscription scale and profound value. As very few products are totally subscription-sufficient, this will likely lead to higher quality, privacy compliant spaces in which to advertise.

Sourced from Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism