Local Press: Advertising

(asked on 30th June 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment his Department has made of (a) trends in the level of advertising in local media outlets and (b) the financial viability of local media outlets.


Answered by
John Whittingdale Portrait
John Whittingdale
This question was answered on 7th July 2021

The government has been engaging closely with local media outlets and with market experts to continue to inform our understanding of the financial pressures that local media sectors have been facing, including with respect to reductions in advertising revenues during the pandemic, and the impact of this on business continuity. We are aware in particular that, in some cases, these pressures have led local news publishers to make difficult decisions with regard to title closures or suspensions and staff redundancies.

It remains a priority of the Government to support local media sectors at this time of financial instability. Alongside our wider economic measures, many local newspapers have also benefited from a unique and unprecedented government advertising partnership, designed to deliver important messages to UK citizens and worth up to £35 million in additional government advertising revenue in its first phase. The government has also taken steps to help local radio stations, in particular through support on transmission costs. We will maintain our dialogue with local media as the situation continues to develop, and we continue to consider all possible options in the interests of supporting them.

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