The decline in newspaper readership
The internet was one of the main sources of news in the United Kingdom according to a survey held in 2022, whereas the share of respondents who got most of their news from printed newspapers was substantially lower than the percentage who read news via other traditional outlets. With UK consumers increasingly going online to read news, newspaper companies will continue to struggle to attract and retain readers. However, some are performing better than others.Broadsheets vs. tabloids
The continued prominence of broadsheet newspapers in the United Kingdom was highlighted in a survey investigating public perceptions of newspapers, which found that the most important print newspapers according to UK readers were The Guardian and The Times. However, the Daily Mirror and Daily Mail, along with their Sunday counterparts, also performed well in this regard, suggesting that the UK public value both quality and popular newspapers. Indeed, the reach of quality and popular UK newspapers was the same in 2022, at 67 percent.For some newspapers, the shift away from printed newspaper readership towards online news consumption has meant abandoning print altogether. A broadsheet newspaper of note in this regard is The Independent, which published its last print edition in 2016 and has since operated exclusively online. The Independent now relies on a combination of subscriptions, digital advertising, and other revenue streams. With digital news consumption on the up, newspaper publishers must adapt in order to account for changing consumer preferences, and the future newspapers in the United Kingdom will likely see more publications make the necessary changes to ensure their survival.
