Spanish newspapers kept declining in 2013, both in terms of market share and advertising income. One consequence was the replacement of the editors at three big newspapers El País, El Mundo, and La Vanguardia. Nevertheless, the print market enjoyed the launch of lifestyle magazines such as Forbes and Icon, as well as some politically focused monthly periodicals. Mergers left the television market with two commercial operators. Closures affected media companies of all kinds, including a multimedia group (Intereconomía), a commercial radio network (ABC Punto Radio) and a regional public service broadcaster (Radiotelevisió Valenciana). Online-only news media continue to grow.

Digital developments

Decisions to charge for online news content in Spain are adversely affected by memories of the audience decline caused by the hard paywall erected by El País in November 2002 – withdrawn three years later. Since 2010, most have adopted a strategy of open and free-to-read websites, alongside e-replicas of print editions sold through digital newsstands. But inspired by the example of foreign newspapers, El Mundo introduced a soft paywall in November 2013, along with an evening app edition and a daily gossip tablet app. Some regional sites like Lavanguardia.com now offer premium content via their websites while online-only sites such as Eldiario.es and Infolibre (published from Madrid) and Vilaweb (a Catalan online pioneer) have voluntary paid membership schemes, with previews and benefits for subscribers.

Social networks and digital participation

A decade ago, online audiences started to engage with news in political blogs and forums, later in comment threads on news sites, and that tradition has made its way to social networks. Although TV current affairs shows promote hashtags relentlessly, Twitter comes third to more personal networks. El País claimed to be the first site to enable direct WhatsApp sharing.

SN, RS and AAz