News publisher advertising revenue has moved steadily from print toward digital, but the transition is measured differently across markets and companies. U.S. newspaper digital advertising rose from $1.2 billion in 2003 to $3.4 billion in 2012, while print advertising fell from $44.9 billion to $18.9 billion over the same period. By 2022, digital represented 48% of U.S. newspaper advertising revenue. Company reporting shows the same structural shift alongside pressure on advertising rates and print activity.
Table of contents
- U.S. newspaper advertising by format
- The growth of digital share
- Newspaper advertising revenue timeline
- The New York Times advertising mix
- Impressions, rates, and yield
- Dow Jones and News Corp advertising
- Publisher revenue priorities
U.S. newspaper advertising by format
The long-run U.S. newspaper series from Pew Research Center separates advertising revenue into digital and print formats. The two measures describe a market in transition: digital revenue expanded during the early years of online publishing, while print revenue peaked in the supplied series before declining.
In 2003, U.S. newspaper digital advertising revenue was $1.2 billion and print advertising revenue was $44.9 billion. Digital revenue then reached $1.5 billion in 2004 and $2.0 billion in 2005. Print revenue was $46.7 billion in 2004 and $47.4 billion in 2005. Those figures place print at the center of newspaper advertising at the beginning of the period, even as digital revenue was growing.
The next two years show the turning point more clearly. Digital advertising reached $2.7 billion in 2006 and $3.2 billion in 2007. Print advertising was $46.6 billion in 2006 and $42.2 billion in 2007. The digital line was still much smaller in absolute dollars, but the print line had begun to move down from its 2005 level. These figures are reported in Pew Research Center’s Newspaper Ad Revenue from Digital and Print.
The contraction in print continued through the late 2000s. U.S. newspaper digital advertising was $3.1 billion in 2008 and $2.7 billion in 2009, while print advertising fell to $34.7 billion in 2008 and $24.8 billion in 2009. Digital revenue therefore did not rise in every year; the 2009 figure was below 2008. The format comparison still shows a much sharper fall in print revenue during those years.
The growth of digital share
Pew Research Center’s Trends and Facts on Newspapers reports digital advertising as a share of total U.S. newspaper advertising revenue. The share was 17% in 2011 and 19% in 2012. It increased to 20% in 2013, 21% in 2014, and 25% in 2015.
The next phase brought larger annual share gains. Digital advertising accounted for 29% of U.S. newspaper advertising revenue in 2016, 31% in 2017, and 35% in 2018. The share remained 35% in 2019, then reached 39% in 2020, 45% in 2021, and 48% in 2022.
This is a share series, not a forecast. It describes the proportion of U.S. newspaper advertising revenue identified as digital in each measurement year. It should not be read as evidence that total advertising revenue increased: the share can rise while the overall market changes in either direction.
| Measurement year | Digital share of U.S. newspaper advertising revenue |
|---|---|
| 2011 | 17% |
| 2012 | 19% |
| 2013 | 20% |
| 2014 | 21% |
| 2015 | 25% |
| 2016 | 29% |
| 2017 | 31% |
| 2018 | 35% |
| 2019 | 35% |
| 2020 | 39% |
| 2021 | 45% |
| 2022 | 48% |
Newspaper advertising revenue timeline
The Pew format series gives additional context for the share figures. Digital advertising revenue was $3.0 billion in 2010, $3.2 billion in 2011, and $3.4 billion in 2012. During those same years, print advertising revenue was $22.8 billion, $20.7 billion, and $18.9 billion, respectively.
| Year | Digital advertising | Print advertising |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | $1.2 billion | $44.9 billion |
| 2004 | $1.5 billion | $46.7 billion |
| 2005 | $2.0 billion | $47.4 billion |
| 2006 | $2.7 billion | $46.6 billion |
| 2007 | $3.2 billion | $42.2 billion |
| 2008 | $3.1 billion | $34.7 billion |
| 2009 | $2.7 billion | $24.8 billion |
| 2010 | $3.0 billion | $22.8 billion |
| 2011 | $3.2 billion | $20.7 billion |
| 2012 | $3.4 billion | $18.9 billion |
The table should be read as a historical U.S. newspaper comparison. It does not represent all news publishers, all advertising channels, or all geographies. It also does not extend the format-level dollar series beyond 2012 in the supplied Pew figures; the later Pew data provided here is the digital-share series through 2022.
The New York Times advertising mix
The New York Times Company’s 2024 annual report gives a more recent company-level view for calendar years 2023 and 2024. The company reported $342.092 million in digital advertising revenue in 2024, compared with $317.744 million in 2023. Print advertising revenue was $164.219 million in 2024, compared with $187.462 million in 2023.
Total advertising revenue was $506.311 million in 2024 and $505.206 million in 2023. The report identifies digital advertising as 67.6% of total advertising revenue in 2024 and print advertising as 32.4%. These figures are from The New York Times Company 2024 Annual Report on Form 10-K.
| The New York Times Company | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Digital advertising revenue | $317.744 million | $342.092 million |
| Print advertising revenue | $187.462 million | $164.219 million |
| Total advertising revenue | $505.206 million | $506.311 million |
| Digital share of total advertising | Not supplied here | 67.6% |
| Print share of total advertising | Not supplied here | 32.4% |
The company figures illustrate why revenue mix matters alongside total revenue. Total advertising revenue changed only slightly between the two reported years, while the reported digital and print components moved in opposite directions. The supplied report does not make this a market-wide estimate; it is a company-level result for The New York Times Company.
Impressions, rates, and yield
The New York Times Company’s 2024 report also separates advertising volume from average rates. Direct-sold display impressions increased 10% in 2024, while the average rate for direct-sold display advertising decreased 5%. Programmatic advertising impressions increased 40%, while the average programmatic advertising rate decreased 18%.
These measures describe different parts of advertising performance. Impressions indicate delivered advertising opportunities, while the average rate indicates the price associated with the advertising sold. The combination reported for 2024—higher impression counts and lower average rates—shows why a publisher can expand volume without every volume increase producing the same rate of revenue growth. The report does not supply a single rate-adjusted yield calculation in the facts used here, so no additional arithmetic is implied.
The direct-sold and programmatic figures also should not be combined into one unsupported total. Direct-sold display impressions rose 10%, and programmatic impressions rose 40%; the corresponding average rates fell 5% and 18%. They are separate measures reported in the same annual-report period.
Dow Jones and News Corp advertising
News Corp’s 2024 annual report reports advertising revenue for its Dow Jones segment for fiscal years ended June 30. Dow Jones advertising revenue was $405 million in fiscal 2024, compared with $413 million in fiscal 2023. The report states that the decrease was $8 million, or 2%, in fiscal 2024 versus fiscal 2023. Digital advertising represented 64% of Dow Jones advertising revenue in fiscal 2024.
The same report states that Dow Jones print advertising revenue decreased by $17 million in fiscal 2024 versus fiscal 2023, while Dow Jones digital advertising revenue increased by $9 million. These component movements accompany the reported $8 million overall decrease. The period is News Corp’s fiscal year ended June 30, not a calendar-year comparison. The source is News Corporation’s 2024 Annual Report on Form 10-K.
News Corp’s News Media segment reported $834 million in advertising revenue for fiscal 2024. Within the segment’s geographic businesses, News Corp Australia advertising revenue decreased by $46 million in fiscal 2024 versus fiscal 2023, and News UK advertising revenue decreased by $26 million over the same comparison. The supplied figures identify the changes but do not provide a single combined total for all News Media advertising businesses beyond the reported segment figure.
Publisher revenue priorities
Industry survey results show that publishers are considering advertising alongside other revenue streams. In the Reuters Institute’s Journalism, media, and technology trends and predictions 2024, digital subscription and membership was identified as an important future revenue focus by 80% of surveyed publishers. Display advertising was identified as an important future revenue focus by 72%.
The survey percentages describe respondents’ stated priorities for the year ahead, not realized revenue shares. That distinction matters when comparing them with company annual reports and historical newspaper revenue. A priority measure indicates what publishers consider important; it does not state how much money a publisher earned from that source.
WAN-IFRA’s World Press Trends Outlook: Digital growth and ‘other’ revenue streams steady the ship for publishers reports that print circulation and advertising together accounted for almost 45% of respondents’ revenue in the 2024–2025 outlook. The same outlook reports that digital activities accounted for more than 30% of respondents’ total revenue.
These WAN-IFRA figures are respondent revenue-mix descriptions for the stated 2024–2025 outlook, not a universal average for every publisher. Read alongside the historical U.S. newspaper data and the company disclosures from The New York Times Company and News Corp, they show several measurement layers: format revenue, digital share, advertising rates and impressions, segment totals, and broader publisher revenue priorities.