Portugal continues to be “one of the markets where you pay the least” for online news, with almost 11% doing so, against a global average of 17%, according to the Digital News Report 2023 released today.
The Reuters Digital News Report 2023 (Reuters DNR 2023) is the 12th second annual report by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) and the 9th report to feature information on Portugal, in which 46 countries participate.
OberCom – Observatório da Comunicação, as a strategic partner, collaborated with RISJ in the design of the questionnaire for the Portuguese market, as well as in the analysis and interpretation of the data.
«Portugal continues to emerge as one of the markets where the least is paid for 'online' news, with only 10,9% of the Portuguese saying they had paid for news in digital format in the previous year, compared to a global average of 17%», it reads in the document.
In France, the percentage of those who pay is 11%, in Japan it is 9%, the same as in the United Kingdom.
Conversely, Norway and Sweden «continue to stand out as the markets where most people pay for online news, with proportions of 39% and 33% of the respective national samples», says the Digital News Report 2023.
For example, in Spain the percentage is 13% and in Italy 12%. In the USA it is 21%, the same percentage as in Finland, while in Australia it is 22%.
«As in previous years, the Portuguese who pay for 'online' news continue to prefer subscription in the 'ongoing' format, continuous, regardless of the frequency of payment (36,1%)», says the report.
In turn, «we find, in an equally close proportion, payment for digital news indirectly, through the subscription of another service that includes this access to news in digital format (34,7%)», indicates the Digital News Report.
Among non-payers for digital news, more than a quarter (27,0%) say "they would pay if the price were more affordable, but 16,8% indicate that the content is not currently relevant enough for them, while a similar number ( 16,5%) stated that they would prefer to pay for a service that allowed them to access several news 'sites' at the same time».
In this year's edition, similarly to what was done in 2016, «questions related to the influence of algorithms and editorialization on content discovery were applied, exploring the benefits of receiving news content selected by editors or journalists, content suggested via algorithm based on past consumption or based on the consumption of friends/connections on social networks», says the report.
Thus, 38% of respondents «agree that receiving stories selected for them by editors or journalists is positive and 35,7% positively evaluate the selection based on their past consumption».
The proportion of «respondents agreeing that selection based on the consumption of friends or connections on networks is substantially lower, in the order of 24,3%», but younger people «tend to see selection systems based on consumption of friends or connections».
In terms of news formats, young people prefer videos on Instagram and TikTok, and 'podcasts' are consolidated in the media consumption of the Portuguese.
«The Portuguese tend to prefer text less than the respondents of the Digital News Report at a global level (50,0% compared to 57,0%), and demonstrate a preference for 'online' news videos (34,0% compared to 30,0%) and audio (16,0% compared to 13,0%), either live radio or 'podcasts'», points out the study.
For the consumption of 'online' videos, «young people, between 18 and 24 years old, prefer above all Instagram (39,2%), TikTok (33,3%) and Youtube (30,6%) , although in general, the Portuguese use Facebook more (33,2%), Youtube (29,2%) and in third place the 'websites' or 'apps' of news brands (27,1%)».
The social networks Instagram and TikTok «come in the background, having been used in the previous week by 20,7% and 15,3% of respondents, respectively».
With regard to 'podcasts', more than a third (38%) of respondents «listened to a 'podcast' in the previous month, in a global context in which 36% of respondents globally are consumers» of this format.
«The reach of 'podcasts' in Portugal is more prevalent among younger people - 60,8% of young people between 18 and 24 years old listened to a 'podcast' in the previous month, compared to 38% of Portuguese people in general», he adds. .
The authors of the Portuguese study are Gustavo Cardoso, Miguel Paisana and Ana Pinto Martinho, researchers from OberCom and CIES-ISCTE.
The total sample size is 93.895 adults, with about 2.000 per market.
The field work was carried out at the end of January/beginning of February of this year and the survey was carried out 'online'.
Among the 46 markets are USA, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Croatia and Romania .
Also includes Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Australia, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Mexico, Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa.
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