Online news subscriptions generated Rs 200 crore from 1.7 million paid subscriptions in 2023, primarily driven by premium and exclusive content, as per the latest EY-FICCI report on the media and entertainment industry. In 2023, Comscore data indicates that online news had a reach of 456 million as compared to 574 million smartphones in India; by 2026, we expect this reach to grow to over 500 million.
The report also stated that online news platform generated Rs 1,900 crore from ad revenue. It adds that monetization will remain a challenge, as programmatic rates will remain low, making a case for a focus on direct deals and premium inventory formats.
Other key points highlighted in the report: Over 60 percent of online news consumers come into contact with fake news. There were 456 million digital news consumers in India, of which over 80 percent consumed news on their mobile phones.
Online news reached approximately 32 percent of India’s population. 75 percent of news consumers were 18 years of age or above, while 50 percent were NCCS AB audiences.
News consumption was primarily mobile driven. The mobile was the preferred mode of consuming online news, comprising 86 percent of total reach. 80 percent consumption of news was on the web, while just 14 percent was on apps.
On an average, consumers spent 137 minutes consuming news each month, with short video and short text being the most preferred formats for consumption. On an average, consumers used more than two platforms to consume online news, and 38 percent of them consumed news more than once a day. Just 1.7 million paid subscriptions were sold in 2023.
73 percent of online news consumers in Indian languages showed interest in hyperlocal news, with the highest from Hindi and Gujarati language users. The rising influence of influencers is apparent when the report found that Indian language consumers also relied on homegrown content creators and engaging in local chat groups to stay updated about locality and neighborhood news.
Big tech versus digital news publishers
The Digital News Publishers Association, a body comprising online news brands of legacy TV and newspaper companies, has requested the regulator to assist its members in growing sustainably as concerns around adtech monopolies, Big Tech unfair practices, AI webcrawlers and fair remuneration heighten. They are calling for a rebalance of rights and remuneration.
DNPA has requested that the scope and definition of social media intermediaries be widened to include all platforms which use news generated by others. It believes there is a need for the inclusion of a bargaining mechanism, followed by arbitration and best efforts, to ensure buyers and sellers reach a negotiated value which is mutually determined. The industry body also recommended that to manage the menace of fake news, intermediaries must be made accountable for all content on their platforms along with publishers.
Read More: FICCI EY Report: 51 percent of total ad spends in Digital media