Abstract
Digital-native news organizations have grown steadily in Spain since the mid-1990s and they have become established as a major force in the media market. Paradoxically, their biggest expansion coincided with the Great Recession (2008–2014). In fact, their numbers increased most during 2012–2013, when traditional media were cutting staff in response to the economic crisis, and unemployment rates in the media sector as a whole hit their peak. However, these digital-native news startups have yet to prove their sustainability and stability. This study uses our own database of 3,862 native and non-native digital news outlets in Spain and the Reuters Institute Digital News Report to analyze a number of characteristics of these media, such as the percentage that have gone inactive, the relative popularity of legacy brands vs. digital natives, multi-platform synergies, content subject matter, geographical location, ownership, and funding sources. Based on these quantitative parameters, this study reviews the structural strengths and weaknesses of digital-native media in the Spanish news market. Taking into account these findings, we conclude that the surge in digital-native news media observed in Spain during the Great Recession followed the pattern of creative destruction described by several economists.
Highlights
Digital journalism is entering its third decade in Spain, and the industry and the way people consume news is changing faster than ever
The purpose of this study is to review the structural strengths and weaknesses of digitalnative media in the Spanish news market by looking at the number and the types of sites emerging from the Great Recession
The 1,382 active digital-native news websites available in Spain in November 2019 are the basis for our detailed study of the sector in this market; these represented 46.4% of all active news sites at the time, considering as ‘active’ those outlets which had updated their contents at least once in the last three months
Summary
Digital journalism is entering its third decade in Spain, and the industry and the way people consume news is changing faster than ever. Since their inception in the middle of the 1990s, online properties rooted in traditional or legacy media dominated the digital market; digital-native media have advanced to a key position in the reconfiguring of the media ecosystem (Salaverría, 2019). The purpose of this study is to review the structural strengths and weaknesses of digitalnative media in the Spanish news market by looking at the number and the types of sites emerging from the Great Recession. Besides increasing and broadening the supply of content, digital-native media have gained more followers every year: When asked about the kinds of media they used weekly for news, 21% of adult online news users in Spain said they used digital-native sites and apps.
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