2.9%. This is the decline in sales of the paper version of the press in 2021. An even greater decline than the previous year, according to the figures revealed in the annual report of the Alliance for the figures of the press and media (ACPM). In addition to being part of a downward trend for several years, 2021 was marked by health restrictions which limited access to newspaper sales outlets.
Two-thirds of digital edition sales
The good news is that, on the contrary, the enthusiasm for digital is confirmed. The sale of newspapers and magazines online jumped 19.2% compared to 2020. This is equivalent to 417 million copies purchased in digital version. A figure that almost offsets the decline in sales in the paper version.
In this difficult context for the paper press, only the national daily press came out the winner with an increase in sales of 5.4% over one year. Of the 1.4 million copies sold per issue, two-thirds are now digital.
Release at the top of sales growth
Among these national dailies, it is the newspaper Release which recorded its strongest growth over one year: +18.5%. It should be noted that three quarters of its paid numbers are consulted in digital version. Conversely, the daily Today in France (of the group Les Echos-Le Parisien) recorded the largest drop in 2021: -14.2%.
As for the regional press, the newspaper West France is the only one to experience an increase, limited to +0.5%. The rest of the regional stocks fell 2.3%. Even if the digital versions of these newspapers jumped by 21%, this press is still more read in paper version than in digital version.