Media coverage of the University of Canberra’s 2024 Digital News Report has painted a bleak picture of the Australian news industry despite the report showing the opposite to be true. But, according to ThinkNewsBrands, these results are understandable given the febrile nature of the world in recent years, and they are, in fact, at odds with the actual expressed behaviours that the report reveals.
Strong and rising news consumption
The report shows over half of Australians (51 per cent) are accessing news more than once a day, a 3 pp increase from last year.
There has also been a substantial increase in news consumption among Baby Boomers (7 pp) since last year. Heavy news consumption was particularly strong among women and Gen Z who increased by 5 pp respectively.
The report also revealed that consumption of national newspapers remained stable, while regional and local newspapers rose.
Consistent payment for news despite cost-of-living pressures
The report showed that the proportion of people paying for online news dropped off by only 1 pp to 21 per cent and ongoing subscriptions remained stable at 11 per cent.
This is an incredibly strong result given the cost-of-living crisis and shows the value Australians place in news. By comparison, according to National Australia Bank data, 37 per cent of Australians have cut back on a streaming service in the past three months, and 33 per cent have trimmed spending on subscriptions for magazines, apps and other goods and products.
“A closer look at the data in Digital News Report: Australia 2024 tells a much happier story than media coverage would suggest,” said Vanessa Lyons, CEO of ThinkNewsBrands.
“The consumption figures in this report are really strong and show that Australians’ engagement with news is very healthy.”
“The fact that payment for news has remained relatively stable in a cost-of-living crisis while we’re seeing cut backs on everything from streaming services to app subscriptions is a testament to how important news really is to Australians”.
