Despite the
promise of online paywalls and gains in digital readers, U.S. newspapers' total
revenue will continue to decline through at least 2017, a new report said.
Total U.S. newspaper revenue is projected to slip at a combined annual
growth rate of 2.9% between 2013 and 2017, as circulation trends improve
but advertising falls at a compound annual rate 4.2%, according to the
latest annual Global Entertainment and Media Outlook from
PricewaterhouseCoopers.Some of that promise comes in the form of more readers online. Newspaper websites drew more than 100 million unique visitors in 2012, according to the Newspaper Association of America. They also saw a 7% boost in unique visitors between the ages of 21 to 34. As more people go to newspaper websites, digital advertising is expected to increase through 2017, growing at a compound annual rate of 9.7% between 2013 and 2017, the report said. But the gains won’t be enough to offset the 7.8% compound annual decline in print ads.
