Friday, November 06, 2020

Pew: Coronavirus downturn hits newspapers hard as TV news thrives

 

A new Pew study compares the coronavirus hits that the newspaper and TV news industries have taken. 

Newspaper companies have been hit especially hard by the coronavirus pandemic, Pew says.

Among the six publicly traded newspaper companies studied — major chains that own over 300 daily papers — advertising revenue fell by a median of 42% year over year (i.e., comparing the second quarter of 2020 with the second quarter of 2019).

By contrast, total ad revenue across the three major cable news networks was steady overall, but there were sharp differences between the networks: While ad revenue for MSNBC and CNN declined by double digits, Fox News Channel’s revenue rose by 41%.

Ad revenue for the five local TV news companies studied (which together own or operate at least 600 individual stations) was also down in the second quarter of this year, but increases in retransmission fees more than made up for this.

Meanwhile, ad revenue for nightly network TV news at the three broadcast networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) increased over the same period, as audiences have been turning to TV in record numbers for news about the outbreak.

News & Tech

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