Summary
The Reuters Digital News Report 2025 (while excellent, as always) bears few surprises. We have been monitoring and hearing about the rise of creator journalism, subscription slowdown, rising disintermediation and pivoting away from default text delivery for a while now. The big question that we want to answer is how news and publishing organisations can navigate these changes in audience behaviour and build resilient business models. Here we explore our key takeaways and what it might mean for the industry.
Trust in news organisations remains stable and could be a differentiator in the context of generative AI, polarisation and the growing influence of creators.
In short: trust in news has remained stable at 40% and trusted news brands, including public service news brands in many countries, are still the most frequently named place people say they go when they want to check whether something is true or false online. It is, however, well below pre-pandemic levels. Trusted brands remain the most-cited sources when people want to check if something is true or false (especially in the UK, Germany, Japan)—even if they aren’t the most frequently used day-to-day.
What it means for the news industry: audiences rely on news organisations for validating or substantiating information that they have seen elsewhere. This appears to be an audience behaviour that is not being replaced by AI Chatbots, unlike staying ‘up to date’ on the latest news. There is a world in which the role of news organisations is to be trusted information providers who hold the highest standard of human-in-the-loop verification. There is a clear opportunity for traditional news organisations to use trust as a competitive edge and become a trusted verification source for information more widely.
Yes, but: Having said that, younger users were proportionately more likely than other groups to check social media, including by reading comments from other users to help them make up their minds, as well as using AI chatbots. This highlights how younger groups have developed a ‘flatter’ pattern of trust in media than older generations, gathering information without a shared sense of a ‘hierarchy of validation’.
The proportion of people paying for news has hit a ceiling, however, bundling may offer a growth path
In short: 18% of people pay for news across the basket of 20 countries included in the measures, relatively unchanged from previous years. This suggests the majority are content with free news offerings, and those who will pay have already signed up. Reduced price offers / trials appear to be losing momentum in moving the net number of people paying for news. The UK's (10%) willingness to pay remains very low in comparison to the US (21%) and Nordic countries.
Bundling is cited as one of the only mechanisms that may grow subscriptions in saturated markets: For example, 21% of non-payers in the US would pay for a multi-news-provider bundle, whilst in Norway, bundled offers eg Shibsted, now account for an increasing share of digital subscriptions.
What it means for the news industry: news organisations need to decide whether they prioritise monetising new audiences or increasing ARPU for existing subscribers if they are to grow subscriber ARR. There is an opportunity for organisations to explore a significantly higher value subscription to drive revenue growth or bundled / multi-brand partnerships for B2B / B2C, as well as podcasts and lifestyle offerings.
The quote that matters: “Over the last ten years, ongoing subscription levels across our basket of 20 countries have more than doubled, but they now look to have hit a ceiling. Publishers have already signed up many of those prepared to pay, and in a tight economic climate, it has been hard to persuade others to do the same.”
Social is now the most important shopfront for news
In short: social and video networks have, for the first time, overtaken news websites/apps (and TV) as an access point for news. This is a result of relatively stagnant access via news sites/apps and a sharp increase (+4% year-on-year) in social media as an access point.
Why it matters for the news industry: news organisations are increasingly disintermediated from their existing and *potentially* future audiences by virtue of the growth in popularity of social and video networks. There is an imperative for premium news organisations to use social / video platforms as a shopfront to draw audiences in without giving everything away for free.
The chart that matters:
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Creators are attracting audiences that traditional media struggle to reach
In short: personality-based news is on the rise, especially in the United States and amongst younger audiences. This is partially a function of a growth in social media usage, but also part of a wider trend of trusting individuals over institutions.
What it means for the news industry: news organisations need to focus on elevating individual journalists and encouraging them to own social / video / audio distribution. This will help to build affinity with audiences and act as a more effective strategy of achieving reach via social media than growing company channels (which no longer operate on a follower-first model).
Online does not have a default format anymore, but mobile is the default access approach
In short: text remains the most popular format for news (across all markets / segments), however, it is being pushed out by a rise in the popularity of audio / video – especially amongst younger audiences and certain markets (e.g. India). Ultimately, users want optionality and formats that suit their situation (e.g. audio for their walk to work, a short-form video or bullet point summary while they wait for their coffee, a long-form video when they are studying a new topic).
What it means for the news industry: news organisations need to transition away from a default text format. AI is likely to enable format transformation (e.g. text to audio), but that shouldn’t reduce the emphasis on creating audio and video-first content. Simple initiatives like narrated articles may actually prove better (and more human) than sophisticated AI models in the near term. What is clear is that more widely, the smartphone is the first point of contact in the UK and US (57% of users), and mobile notifications can be effective at building habits but need to be used respectfully to ensure they are not disabled.
The quote that matters: “Even within top news organisations conversations still focus around the front page of the website, with formats optimised for reading long text, but that is no longer how most people want to consume the news. The shift to smartphone as the anchor device, which has gone hand in hand with the rise of communication apps, has also made it harder for any individual publisher app to cut through.”
The chart that matters:
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Audience preferences and behaviours in the US and Western Europe are increasingly diverging
In short: US audiences are increasingly accessing news via social media and relying much more heavily on opinionated online personalities. While Western Europe is seeing a similar phenomenon, the trend is much slower, with many continuing to rely on traditional news organisations as their primary source.
What it means for the news industry: news organisations straddling the US and Western European markets need to consider whether they regionalise their marketing, content and distribution strategy. There is an increasing likelihood that what works in one country will not work in another.
The chart that matters:
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Audiences have mixed feelings about AI personalisation and want to have control
In short: 49% of people are comfortable with content automatically being selected for them based on their previous preferences; 18% said that they were uncomfortable with personalised selection (fear of missing out, potential for irrelevant news, more biased / manipulative). By comparison, a larger portion of audiences are interested in personalised formats (e.g. summaries / translation) as it creates convenience and optionality, as opposed to making decisions on the user's behalf.
What it means for the news industry: news organisations need to give audiences, given its divisiveness, the control to determine whether they have an AI-driven experience — e.g. offering a “for you” feed and an editorially curated feed. It is important to build AI-driven experiences now because they are more desirable and trusted by younger people (e.g. the ability to adapt content for different reading levels) who will grow into being future audiences.
The chart that matters:
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Podcasts attract highly desirable audience segments
What it means for the news industry: news podcasts can play an important role in news organisations’ strategy because they are popular amongst our target audience (younger, richer, educated) and also have a clear route to monetisation (either as a standalone product or part of a subscription bundle). Podcasts also offer an opportunity for news organisations to embed themselves back into the parts of the day where we have been edged out (e.g. on the commute to work or lunch break).
At FT Strategies, we work with media organisations to navigate change with confidence: from adapting to shifting audience behaviours and evolving content formats to building strategies for sustainable, long-term growth. If you're exploring how to future-proof your operations in a rapidly transforming landscape, please get in touch with our expert team.
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