Local news holds up, payments plateau

Regional audiences are among the most interested in local news, the Digital News Report has found, in a report that has both positive and negative findings for local media.

The good: regional news consumers are increasingly engaged. Fifty per cent of regional respondents reported being ‘heavy’ media users, meaning they access news more than once each day. This is a four percentage point increase from 2023. Trust remains very high for regional and local news, despite across-the-board falls. Sixty per cent reported trusting their local newspaper, down one percentage point. Only 14 per cent reported distrusting their local paper, the best recorded result.

Reported interest in local news remains very high, despite a decline: 64 per cent of respondents said they’re interested in local news, a three percentage point drop from 2022, and the highest topic of interest of those canvassed.

Interest in local news is high, but so is the level of satisfaction with the amount that is available: 69 per cent of respondents currently paying for news said that they’ve got enough available to them, and 55 per cent of non-paying respondents said the same.

The number of paying respondents who reported subscribing to a local newspaper increased slightly to ten per cent.

Now, the bad. Only 21 per cent of all respondents reported paying for news; of those who aren’t, 57 per cent said that they never will. On both measures, the situation among regional audiences is slightly bleaker: only 17 per cent are currently paying, and of those who aren’t, 59 per cent can’t be moved to.

The report authors suggest that these payment figures represent a ‘plateau’ in the public’s willingness to pay for journalism through direct measures like subscriptions and donations.

Nevertheless, these results are more positive than a recent survey on indirect measures published by the Public Interest Journalism Initiative (PIJI). In a February 2024 survey, PIJI asked respondents about their willingness to pay a small monthly tax increase to fund public interest journalism. At all price points – $1 per month, $5 per month, $15 per month – the survey found a sharp decline in willingness to pay of between nine and 17 percentage points compared to when the question was first asked in November 2019.

The range of willingness to pay in this manner dropped precipitously, from $1.51 to $2.94 five years ago to $0.41 to $1.99 today. This has serious implications for the legitimacy of any taxpayer-funded initiatives to support the sector.

All of this confirms the ongoing challenge faced by local and regional media: Australians love and trust the product, they just don’t want to pay very much for it.

Gary Dickson, CMT Research Fellow