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Our third annual Index of the independent news sector.

 

  

This year’s Index is the result of in-depth surveys taken by 100 small independent news publishers across the UK, predominantly working in text-based formats.   

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Key findings include: 

  

  • Publishers see themselves as having more social impact than last year. Asked ‘to what extent does your organisation make a contribution to society?’ on a scale of 0-100 the average publisher scored itself at 68pts. 

  • Social media follower numbers – and email newsletters – are booming across the sector. And across nearly all platforms. 

  • Average revenues are up nearly 20%, but there’s a big difference between for-profits and non-profits. 

  • Advertising revenue is a greater proportion of revenue than last year, with grant revenue down.  

  • Within advertising revenue, publishers are doing more direct selling to clients, relying less on programmatic ads and much less on government advertising. 

  • Revenue is strongly correlated to website user numbers and social media followers, especially Twitter followers. 

  • Inflation is biting and publishers say ‘there is nothing left to cut’. Several report a risk of having to abandon print editions. 

  • Staffing is changing: there is less reliance on volunteers and publishers employ fewer people overall but more full-time equivalents (i.e. existing staff are paid for more hours). 

  • Publishers are optimistic: they perceive little competition, especially in high-quality local news. They’d like fair access to government advertising to help boost their sustainability. 

  • In-person events are back after the pandemic – publishers hope to run local focus groups, community newsrooms, local training and workshops. 

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Our analysis reveals new insights into the size, shape and economics of the sector.

 

The report also features first-person accounts from publishers and highlights inspiring stories of impact. 

  

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Many thanks to all the publishers who took the time to complete the survey, as well as our researchers: Dr Clare Cook of the University of Central Lancashire and Dr Coral Milburn-Curtis of the University of Oxford. 

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