• by Ray Schultz , August 1, 2023

Hispanic- and Black-owned news outlets have suffered audience declines, according to analysis by Pew Research Center.  

Case in point: There were 18 weekly or semi-weekly Hispanic newspapers (those with circulation data available to Pew) in 2021. That has fallen to 11. 

In addition, the average circulation for those weeklies fell from 109,000 in 2020 to about 83,000 in 2022. 

But the declines may reflect difficulty in collecting data. 

“Beginning in 2021, there were no longer 20 Hispanic newspapers that reported their circulation to our data sources,” the study states.  

It continues, “This may be due to a combination of factors – including, in some cases, larger English-language newspapers no longer breaking out their affiliated Spanish-language publications in their circulation reports (for example, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s circulation reports no longer break out the affiliated publication La Estrella).”  

The study adds, “Other newspapers still appear to publish, but their circulation is no longer reported or available in the Alliance for Audited Media’s database.” 

On the positive side, two of the eight Black-oriented newspapers studied had increases in circulation from 2021 to 2022. And none experienced circulation drop of more than 10%, although even that percentage is serious. 

In addition, average station revenue for Spanish-language news radio stations listed in the BIA Advisory Services database has recovered from revenue declines seen in 2020.

 Meanwhile, there was a merger between U.S. media company TelevisaUnivision, and Mexico’s Grupo Televisa and Univision in early 2022, reported to the SEC a total revenue of $4.6 billion in 2022, versus $2.8 billion in 2021. 

But the two largest Spanish-language television networks in the United States, Univision and Telemundo both had declines in viewership in 2022.  

Univision’s average audience fell for all three national time slots studied. This reflected an 11% decline for the evening news time slot, from an average audience of about 804,000 to roughly 714,000. In addition, there was a 16% decline in late-night news; and a 7% falloff for the morning news time slot.  

Telemundo experienced an audience drop of 9% for the evening news time slot, going from 479,000 to 435,000. And there was a 16% slide in the late-night news time period.  

These audience losses were part of a pattern that started for many time slots in 2021. 

On another front, the percentage of local TV newsroom staff who are Black totaled 13.2% in 2022, not showing much growth from the 12% to 13% recorded since 2018, according to a survey of TV stations from RTDNA/Newhouse School at Syracuse University. 

However, only 6% of news directors are Black is smaller, at just 6%.