Irish titles have increased their reach with revenue streams stabilising, while digital news is on the rise with increasing numbers consuming on their mobile phones.

Overview of key developments

By Jane Suiter and Niamh Kirk
Dublin City University

There have been a number of changes in the corporate structure of leading Irish news organisations over the last year. Independent News & Media (INM) sold its interests in Australia, clearing debts and increasing reserves. It also bought four magazines in Northern Ireland while announcing the closure of its Belfast printing press in June 2016 due to the continued decline in print sales as well as the end of the contract. INM titles such as the Irish Independent, the Herald, the Sunday World, Sunday Life, and the Belfast Telegraph all utilised the press.

UTV Ireland, along with UTV NI, was acquired by the UK’s largest commercial network, ITV, for €135m in February 2016, along with other entities such as radio station talkSPORT, digital operations Tibus (digital infrastructure), and Simply Zesty (digital marketing).

More telecoms operators moved into broadcast: Virgin Media’s parent group Liberty Mobile acquired TV3 in a €87m deal which also saw UPC rebrand to Virgin Media Ireland. Eir (formerly Eircom) bought Irish satellite channel Setanta Sports.

There was also expansion by Irish companies into the UK. Communicorp invested in the British market with acquisitions of eight radio stations from the Global Radio Group. Irish digital-born publishers Maximum Media, which operate entertainment sites joe.ie and her.ie, expanded into the UK with offices in Manchester and London.

The reach of most legacy brands fell in their traditional operations, however UTV Ireland bucked the negative trend with a 2% increase. While the reach of public service broadcaster RTE fell (-7) in TV news and (-3) in radio, it increased digital reach by (+11). RTE is three years into the five-year strategy and has continued to push developments across multiple platforms and devices, with its app accounting for about 40% of its digital traffic (RTE Annual Report 2014). Ireland has one of the highest penetrations of smartphones in the world, the highest in Europe (Statcounter) fuelled in part by adoption by younger demographics.

Free news continues to create a climate averse to digital subscriptions. The top three online news brands are the public service broadcaster, RTE, digital-born thejournal.ie, and the independent online which all offer news that is free to consumers. Despite this, some publishers have been experimenting with paid content. The Irish Times metered paywall has been in operation for just over one year and still reported an increase in overall traffic (Joint National Readership Survey, JNRS). The Irish Sun, which is behind a full paywall, also saw an increase in digital readership and Times Newspapers UK expanded its digital operations in Ireland with the Sunday Times adding a daily paid-for edition.

The high level of free advertiser-subsidised digital news in Ireland has had a multifaceted impact. Some 30% use ad-blockers to protect against unwanted commercial intrusions, one of the highest levels in Europe. Despite this, the level of digital advertising across the 16 NewsBrands Ireland titles (NBI, formerly National Newspapers Ireland, digital and print titles) is growing steadily. Between January and September 2015 revenue from advertising was up 3.75% on the same period last year (NBI Data Centre).

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