In September 2025, the European Union (EU) presented the second edition of the Media Industry Outlook report, which overviews the state of the media market since 2019 for the news media sector, as well as the audiovisual, video games and extended reality sectors. Based on independent research and consumer surveys, the report highlights key trends for the media industry from news consumption, to levels of trust or business models viability.
The report shows that the news media sector is now embedded in the attention economy and faces growing pressures, including massive loss of revenues, the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and changing news consumption habits. The ongoing shift in attention economy benefits online platforms which capture audiences and market shares. While the competition is stronger between stakeholders, media outlets must adapt their business models and practices to enlarge revenues and ensure quality information sustainability.
Changing news consumption habits
News consumption has not disappeared but has shifted to digital and shorter content. European citizens primarily consume news appearing on their online social media before turning to media outlets. However, public TV and radio portals remain the perceived most reliable source of information in all EU member states, with the exception of Hungary and Poland – where citizens rely more on private sources of information.
The news media sector also encounters generational differences in news consumption habits. Young audiences are most likely to consume short news content online, while older audiences still tend to turn to traditional channels (TV, radio and written press).
Weakened trust in media
Despite current challenges and the spread of disinformation, European news is still perceived as reliable with 87% of Europeans consuming news daily and 34% weekly. However, this perceived reliability does not translate into subscriptions and 66% of Europeans are not willing to pay for news.
While we expect people who do not consider media outlets as trustworthy to avoid them, data show contrary evidence. Among those people, 41% consume news from professional media outlets, while 29% turn to social media platforms, which highlights paradoxical patterns in the attitudes towards media.
‘Platformisation’ of the sector
The development of AI has profoundly transformed the industry by providing endlessly available content. While content production is easier and faster with the help of AI systems, the competition between actors is reinforced because newsrooms can’t equally invest in AI infrastructures and tools. This gap might increase in the next few years with the need for technological skills expected to grow. Additionally, existing licensing agreements between media outlets and AI systems lack transparency and might feed dependency of local and small publishers, seeking costs reduction.
The spread of AI goes along with the spread of poor quality information online. Journalistic content is disseminated alongside disinformation and content produced by news “influencers”, who do not necessarily comply with journalistic ethics. However, traditional media outlets might increase their collaboration with those “influencers” to benefit from the audience they have, mainly young, and find alternative sources of income.
Overall decline of revenues
The news media sector continues to operate in a context of declining advertising revenues, from EUR 84.3 billion in 2019 to 77.2 billion in 2023, with differences between TV, radio and print media. While TV revenues remain stable and radio revenues increase, the print sector continues to shrink and faces a decline in both revenues and circulation. Meanwhile, the daily circulation of digital newspapers rose by 52% between 2019 and 2023.
The unfair capture of revenues by online platforms structurally affects the market and puts media outlets economic viability at risk in nearly all EU member states. As a consequence, the employment rate decreased by 7,5% between 2021 and 2023 (even 11.5% in TV and broadcasting).
Business models viability at stake
Online platforms capture an increasing share of advertising revenue, which grew by 67% between 2019 and 2023. Consequently, traditional media outlets can no longer rely solely on their established business models and are increasingly developing on-side activities, while also exploring AI as a potential new source of revenue.
The report also highlights concerns for local and small media outlets, which tend to rely more on philanthropic donations, public grants and European funds. They are the most at risk, as the report states: “In this context, local media, investigative press and small companies have continued to face the most significant challenges due to limited market size and reach, fewer resources for digital adaptation, and weaker bargaining power with online platforms. This has led to the closure of local newsrooms and the emergence of news deserts”.
The news sector however builds on strong foundations. Media outlets have for a large part started to rethink their models through “audiences-first” approaches to remain sustainable and reach market shares, as well as safeguard the production of qualitative European news.
Source: EFJ
