Advertising: the gap between platforms and publishers is widening in Europe

Advertising is changing hands. And those who produce news are losing ground. In Italia, publishers accounted for 67 per cent of advertising revenue in 2019; by 2025, this figure will have fallen to 41 per cent. Global platforms are following the opposite trend, rising from 33 per cent to 59 per cent. Twenty-six market share points have changed hands in six years. This applies to Italia as well as to other European markets. In France, the figures have shifted from 57 per cent (publishers) and 43 per cent (platforms) to 60 per cent versus 40 per cent. The same trend is seen in Spain: 66 per cent (publishers) and 34 per cent (platforms) have become 55 per cent and 45 per cent respectively. Even in countries where platforms were already ahead in 2019, the ‘avalanche’ has not stopped: that gap has widened, as in the UK (from 60 per cent versus 40 per cent to 78 per cent versus 22 per cent) or in Germany (54 per cent to 46 per cent became 63 per cent to 37 per cent). This overtaking – or widening of the gap – has implications that go beyond company balance sheets: the distance is growing between those who bear the cost of news and those who capture advertisers’ money.

eMedia’s analyses and estimates for Il Sole 24 Ore reveal an imbalance affecting the five largest European markets: France, Germany, Italia, Spain and the United Kingdom. “This is a long-term trend common to all markets,” observes Emilio Pucci, director of eMedia. “Global platforms account for the lion’s share of growth.” Publishing offerings, on the other hand, “are seeing their relative share decline”. The pressure is felt not only by established players in the print, television and radio sectors, but also by digital-native publishers. Simply having been founded online is not enough to protect them.

The Italia scope excludes cinemas, outdoor advertising and direct mail. And the figure reflects a loss of market share, not an equivalent decline in revenue: the 41 per cent for 2025 and 67 per cent for 2019 refer to markets of different sizes. But the industry trend is very clear. The growth in advertising spend is primarily bolstering the platforms. Those who fund journalists, writers and productions are left with a smaller share in the competition for advertisers’ investment.

Within the internet sector, concentration is even more pronounced. Alphabet, Meta and Amazon, as eMedia points out, citing Agcom data, together account for over 70 per cent of the value of online advertising in Italia. More than seven out of every ten euros are in the hands of three groups. This is a second imbalance, adding to the first: the market is shifting towards platforms and, within them, resources are concentrated around a very small number of operators. Content producers must contend with entities that also control the relationship with the public.

On Wednesday 21 October in Rome, this topic will be the focus of the conference ‘Article 21: the right to know. The press, books, radio and TV united in ensuring information and culture for citizens’, organised by Confindustria Radio Televisioni, AIE and Fieg – the Italian Federation of Newspaper Publishers.