Quantifying digital-native and legacy, national and local news websites in Spain, their topic scope and platforms

Abstract

Digital media have become an integral part of the journalism industry and of audience habits – in 2021 our research registered 2873 active news websites in Spain. First, this paper explores trends facing online news; it sets out the criteria used to identify a news brand as digital-native or non-native; and it presents the results of our classification. This includes: data on the presence of news titles both on proprietary platforms (print, radio, TV or app) in addition to their websites, and on external platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Telegram); their geographic scope (hyperlocal, local/regional or national/global); their subject (general or specialized coverage); and on ownership and language used. Almost 70% of the media were regional or local, while 60% covered general news, and one in three were linked to a print product, almost as many as those with their own app for users. Social media uptake is so widespread that more than 95% of the sites are on Facebook, with a similar number on Twitter, while more than 60% can be found on YouTube, and similarly on Instagram. Among specialized sites, sport is the largest category, comprising twice as many digital-native sites (106) than sites with traditional roots (46). The entertainment focus expands in the digital environment, and online-originated culture, business and science and technology outlets also outnumber legacy publications.

Keywords

• digital journalism
• online news
• news publishing
• news platforms
• digital-native media
• Spain