Is publishing in an irreversible crisis?
Publishing in Italy (and also in the rest of the world) is going through a great period of evolution. The crystallisation typical of the industry has now been overwhelmed by 15 years of social and evolving media, but no solution can be seen on the horizon. In all its varied and changing forms, publishing is in crisis.
Publishing in Italy: fewer copies of newspapers and fewer titles
We have already spoken about the evolution of publishing in Italy in recent months. But the problem lies in the numbers and revenues and affects all the major Italian groups. The first point certainly concerns the sales of newspapers on the newsstands. The FIEG figures speak for themselves: in 2005, 6 million paper copies were sold, in 2022 this figure was 1.5 million. As a result, turnover dropped from 7.2 billion in 2005 to 2.9 billion last year. This is a rather predictable analysis, also because, at the same time, as many as 43 million people search for information on digital channels.
But let us go into more detail to analyse the revenues of the main Italian publishing groups.
The situation of the main Italian groups
RCS Mediagroup currently has 10 national daily newspapers and 14 weekly newspapers, as well as a large number of magazines. To mention the ‘workhorses’, the group owns Corriere della Sera, La Gazzetta dello Sport and Il Mattino. The magazines are many and range from Novella 2000 to TV Sorrisi e Canzoni. The group released its revenue figures updated to December 2022. From 2018 to 2022, the loss was an impressive EUR 130.6 million, a drop in revenue of 13.4%.
The Sole24Ore Group, on the other hand, marks a turnaround, with a very slight +0.5% in revenue compared to 2021. However, it is impressive to note that this is the first positive net result in fourteen years. The group itself points out that the slight positive sign was also and above all due to the labour cost cuts made in recent years.
And what about the other Italian group?
The situation for other Italian groups was also negative. Caltagirone Editore (Il Gazzettino, il Mattino, il Messaggero) reported operating revenues in 2022 down 3% compared to 2021. Cairo Communication recorded a drop in revenues of 8.2% compared to 2019 and as much as 13.1% compared to 2018. The group is considering converting some corporate properties into different real estate solutions to contain costs.
Monrif, owner of newspapers such as Il Resto del Carlino, La Nazione and Il Giorno (and controlled, among others, by current FIEG president Andrea Riffereser Monti), saw revenues drop by 6.5% compared to 2021. The group supports the revenues of the publishing part with the sale of printed newspapers, which weigh a good 86.7% of the total, so the digital part is rather small.
And it was precisely the FIEG that recently expressed concern about the government’s delay. The promised decree for the allocation of resources from this year’s ‘Extraordinary Fund for the support of publishing’ was to be issued by 31 March.
Prompt reassurances came from the Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council, Barachini, who announced the planned allocation once the situation had been clarified. The measures should serve to mitigate the drastic labour cost reductions that publishers are implementing to cope with the loss of revenues.
Publishing in the world: the cases of Buzz Feed and Vice Media
The rest of the world is no better off, with two cases that have caused a stir recently. The first was that of Buzz Feed News. The pioneer site and symbol of digital journalism closed its doors, just three years after winning the Pulitzer Prize. The Buzz Feed news division was 12 years old and had over time carried out important journalistic investigations, such as the controversial Steel dossier on relations between Donald Trump and Russia. The Pulitzer Prize had come in 2021, with an investigation into the mass detentions of Uighurs in China. But this was not enough. Now the group will lay off 15% of its workforce, or 180 people, due to the closure of the division.
As for the second case, however, the news is very fresh. The famous Canadian media-company Vice, specialised in digital journalism, has declared that it is one step away from bankruptcy. After two years of (unsuccessful) attempts to be bought, Vice is about to file for bankruptcy, with the Fortress Investment Group fund, Vice’s largest creditor, poised to become its owner. The sharp drop in ad revenues, but also the feeling that the classic type of journalism is definitively being archived and that the social model, despite the crisis, has now become the predominant one in the perception (and use) of users.
Irreversible crisis?
While digital journalism has helped to mitigate this phenomenon, the cost of maintaining editorial structures has become ever greater, also due to lower advertising revenues. The crisis is therefore becoming increasingly irreversible. With the advent of AI and the consequent change of the information paradigm in the last 20 years, another revolution is looming for the world of information (and publishing). We will see whether it will be positive or negative and especially for whom.
