The Print and Digital Publishing Media Industry in South Africa 2020

The Print & Digital Media Publishing Industry

The evolution of major media publishers into multi-platform companies has resulted in the blurring of traditional publishing lines. Despite the growth of digital media, digital income streams have not adequately offset the decline in print revenues. Additionally, media companies are facing increased competition for adspend from social media platforms, search engines and websites. Although the circulation figures of most newspaper and magazine titles are in free-fall, research indicates that demand for reliable information and quality content has surged since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

Coronavirus Impact

While the printing of magazines was suspended at the outset of the lockdown, newspaper printing presses have continued to run and subscriber deliveries continued, although retail copy sales have declined. There has been a notable increase in online news site traffic, with audiences growing by as much as 76%. The pandemic has led to advertising cuts, smaller print-runs and distribution challenges. One magazine publisher has stopped trading while another announced plans to withdraw from magazine publishing.

Trends

As immediacy of response becomes increasingly important, major media publishing houses have evolved into multi-platform companies and print circulation continues to decline. With advertising revenue in decline, media publishers are diversifying into non-media services, such as the hosting of events, and are relying more on revenue from subscriptions and copy sales. Although magazine sales are in decline, certain niche publications continue to be well supported.

Report Coverage

This report focuses on the Print & Digital Media Publishing Industry and includes comprehensive information on the state and size of the sector including the latest available circulation, readership and adspend figures and trends and corporate actions. There are profiles of 36 companies including major players such as Media24, Caxton & CTP, Arena and Independent Media, relatively smaller publishers such as IT Web, and academic publishers such as LexisNexis and Eduflex.