What can we expect to see from the UK media going into 2022?

What the next 12 months has in store featuring thoughts from some of the UK’s leading producers and journalists.

The events of the past two years’ have made predicting the future something of a fool’s errand. With that being placed ‘on the record’, let’s still ponder how the UK media might evolve over the coming year, and beyond.

In media land, if 2020 was a year where established media consumption trends were upended and 2021 was a period of slow correction, 2022 is set to be the year of ‘normalisation’ where the media will understand which pandemic pivots have become permanent shifts in consumption patterns (Omicron not withstanding).

Five things we can expect to see going into 2022 are:

• An acceleration in the shift to people consuming broadcast news via mobile
• UK newspapers building increasingly international audiences behind paywalls.
• More UK consumers willing to pay for quality journalism
• Greater public awareness of misinformation.
• UK & EU regulation starting to restore trust in traditional news outlets.

A Shift to Smaller Screens

These changes are likely to be first felt by the broadcast media. A recent report by McKinsey predicted that 2022 is likely to be the last year where traditional, television-set viewing accounts for over 50% of all video content consumed in the UK.

Traditional TV’s share of video-viewing was as high as 73% in 2017, but with this number expected to slip to 49% in 2023, the challenge that TV news faces in attracting the next generation of viewers is clear.

Omar Mehtab, reporter and producer at BBC Click confirms this is a trend that was already in play, but has likely been accelerated by Covid, commenting: “The pandemic has had an impact upon where our audience are consuming our content. The trend towards online and the iPlayer was happening before, but we have felt a further move away from the linear, ‘appointment to view’ behaviour. We have to react to that when we think about putting together packages.”

Broadcasters face the twin challenge of appealing to younger audiences, whilst living up to the heightened expectations that these new consumer groups will have of them.

A Foresight Factory report in September stated that millennials are the consumer group most likely to fact-check news sources. As television seeks to simultaneously win eyeballs and trust, expect broadcast news to double down on its efforts to promote audience participation. Five News recent initiative, where it allows viewers to WhatsApp the presenters directly as they are on air, is an interesting development and one we should expect to see more of.

You can also expect to see greater collaboration amongst broadcasters to raise awareness of societal issues, particularly those impacting younger audiences. In November, 12 UK broadcasters agreed a directive around COP26 that committed to increase their coverage on climate change. If their influence over younger audiences is waning, coalescing around the issues that are critical to them would be a commonsense route back to relevancy for UK news broadcasters.

Print Paywalls take UK papers Global

And what of the print media? The ‘death of print’ is a story that has run for years and will likely endure but increasing amounts of newspapers are successfully diversifying their business models. The Independent, The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph have all recently reported major milestones in their paid subscription audiences, including The Guardian announcing that 500,000 of its initial 1million paid subscribers are based outside of the UK.

A loyal international audience has also been central to The Independent announcing a 100% increase in its operating profit and an intention to double its US headcount. Whilst the print editions of the UK dailies will continue to reflect and shape UK society, expect to see the online versions of these titles increasingly start to cater their content for an international audience.

Paying for Quality in the Post-Truth Era

I also believe the past two years has triggered a renewed appreciation for quality journalism amongst consumers. Talk of the ‘post-truth’ era that emerged from the Brexit referendum and the US elections was likely a catalyst, but there are increasing signs that the pandemic has driven an acceleration in the numbers of consumers who are prepared to pay for a regular, digitally delivered digest of news. This trend is welcomed by those in the media, whose craft was somewhat eroded by the rapid rise of citizen journalism.

Indeed, Mark Sparrow, technology journalist and Forbes contributor cites this trend when he says: “There will always be critics of the media and the work we do. In the era of citizen journalism, there will always be a proportion of people who feel that we could do a better job. But I think overall, the last couple of years have been a good showcase of quite what the UK media can achieve on limited resources.”

This view is shared by a veteran technology journalist, with over 15 years’ experience who says: “Most journalists will argue they do a pretty good job against the backdrop of an overall lack of investment in UK publishing and attacks on media credibility around issues like the fuel crisis.”

The continual growth of international audiences by UK publishers should be grounds for optimism that there soon could be revenue available to invest in the future of domestic newsgathering.

The Question of Trust, Education & Regulation

Finally, we should address the issue that has been the thorn in the media’s side for some time. Trust. For every willing subscriber to a paywall, there is a Twitter account only too ready to decry the mainstream media (AKA MSM) and accuse it of crimes ranging from COVID-19 conspiracies to overt political bias.

Recent research from Foresight Factory showed that only 10% of UK consumers ‘readily accept the authority’ of the media So, if this trend is running parallel with increased subscriber numbers, are we at risk of slipping into a two-tier society of ‘believers’ and ‘non-believers’?

2022 has the potential to be the beginning of the end of ‘misinformation’. UK media titles have spent the last 12 months aggressively tackling misinformation, from dedicated articles fact-checking political speeches to appointing correspondents to tackle it at source. Audiences are becoming more sophisticated and now can spot reputable news sources within their cluttered social media ecosystems.

As public knowledge increases, regulation is imminent to compound these learnings. The Online Safety Bill aimed at tackling the issues created by misinformation, is expected to pass through UK Parliament in early 2022. On the Continent, Emmanuel Macron is determined to use France’s presidency of the EU to push through both the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act in 2022 to regulate how misinformation is shared across social platforms.  

This legislation will enhance all the recent gains that have been made in tackling misinformation.

So, what's next?

It has been a rocky couple of years for the UK media, which has faced questions of public trust, commercial viability and relevance amongst younger audiences. Whilst the future won’t be without challenges, I remain optimistic.

The pandemic has somewhat re-framed the role of our media within the context of a functioning society. The media has been the vehicle though which the Government and the scientific community has communicated the need for major behavioural shifts and for most, compliance has been at a level that exceeded the expectations of many.

This tells me there is still more residual trust in the media than many studies may suggest. If the UK media can continue to turn the tide on misinformation, reinvigorating its dated business models as it does, the future can be bright.

If you would like to discuss your media strategy going into 2022, please get in touch and the team at WE would be happy to have an exploratory chat around your challenges!