[ad_1]
Traffic from Facebook to news sites will plummet by nearly half in 2023, according to a new report, and publishers fear it will decline further in the next 12 months.
The Reuters Institute surveyed the views of 134 media leaders from 56 countries for its annual trends and forecasts report released today.
Traffic from Facebook to news sites fell by 48% in 2023, while traffic from X (formerly known as Twitter) fell by 27%, according to data sourced for a report from analytics provider Chartbeat.
British regional publishers Reach and National World each previously blamed the drop in referral traffic on recent cost-cutting programs that have seen hundreds of journalists lose their jobs.
Today’s report reveals that almost two-thirds of publishers surveyed expressed concern about further declines in referral traffic over the coming year.
Nick Newman (pictured), senior researcher and author of the report, said:
“A big concern is that search traffic might come next, as AI-powered search results provide answers directly in the interface, rather than providing a bunch of links to news sites. .”
The report reveals priorities are changing among publishers in light of declining social traffic, with 77% saying they will put more emphasis on their direct channels and 22% looking to cut costs. He says he relies on it.
When considering third-party platforms, newsroom leaders plan to focus less on Facebook and X and more resources on WhatsApp (net score +61%) and Instagram (+39%) said.
When it comes to news formats, most respondents said they plan to create more videos (+64% net score), more newsletters (+52), and more podcasts (+47). However, the number of news articles was about the same.
Other findings in the report showed that publishers see potential benefits in using artificial intelligence, including in back-end news automation.
However, publishers are ambivalent about using AI in content creation, with more than half of respondents considering “reputational risk.”
The report reveals low business confidence for the coming year, with less than half of editors, CEOs and digital executives saying they are confident in the outlook for journalism.
Their concerns primarily revolve around rising costs, declining advertising revenue, slowing subscription growth, and increasing legal and physical harassment.
However, publishers continue to invest in subscription and membership models, with 80% of those surveyed saying this will be an important source of revenue.
Most companies operating paid subscription models reported that their subscription numbers increased slightly or remained stable last year despite the challenging economic outlook.
You can read the full report here.
[ad_2]
Source link
