--- title: "Key facts about digital-native news outlets amid staff cuts, revenue losses" description: "Traffic to digital-native news sites has plateaued in recent years. After rising from 2014 to 2016, it remained steady through 2019." date: "2020-07-14" authors: - name: "Michael Barthel" job_title: "Former Senior Researcher" link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/michael-barthel/" - name: "Galen Stocking" job_title: "Associate Director, Research" link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/galen-stocking/" url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/07/14/key-facts-about-digital-native-news-outlets-amid-staff-cuts-revenue-losses/" categories: - "Digital News Landscape" - "Digital News Landscape" - "Media Industry" --- # Key facts about digital-native news outlets amid staff cuts, revenue losses [Digital-native news outlets](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/fact-sheet/digital-news/) – those “born on the web” – have seen a wave of cuts since the [outbreak of the coronavirus](https://www.pewresearch.org/topics/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/) as financial troubles continue to [roil the news media](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/with-cuts-at-vice-quartz-buzzfeed-even-medias-savviest-digital-players-are-hurting/2020/05/19/f15d3dde-96e9-11ea-91d7-cf4423d47683_story.html?outputType=amp). Quartz [laid off 80 staffers](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/business/media/quartz-to-lay-off-80-employees.html) as its advertising revenue [declined by over half](https://twitter.com/kerrymflynn/status/1260942217876836352). BuzzFeed [shut down](https://www.businessinsider.com/buzzfeed-shuts-down-news-operations-in-uk-and-australia-2020-5) its divisions in the UK and Australia while [furloughing dozens](https://www.businessinsider.com/buzzfeed-shuts-down-news-operations-in-uk-and-australia-2020-5) in the United States, and Vox [furloughed about 100](https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/17/media/vox-media-furloughs/index.html). [The Outline](https://www.niemanlab.org/2020/04/the-outline-an-attempt-to-build-a-bolder-kind-of-news-site-appears-to-have-met-its-end/) has shut down entirely. Here are key facts about digital-native news organizations, based on Pew Research Center analyses of data from Comscore, eMarketer and other sources. All data predates the current downturn related to the coronavirus. [![Traffic to digital-native news sites largely unchanged since 2016](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/07/ft_2020.07.14_digitalmedia_01.png?w=840)](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/07/14/key-facts-about-digital-native-news-outlets-amid-staff-cuts-revenue-losses/ft_2020-07-14_digitalmedia_01-png/) - **Traffic to digital-native news sites has **[**plateaued in recent years**](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/fact-sheet/digital-news/). After rising from 2014 to 2016, it remained steady through 2019. The average monthly number of fourth-quarter unique visitors for the primary domains of these outlets in 2019 was 23.5 million, up only 3% from 2016, when it was 22.8 million. (The digital-native news outlets included in this analysis are those whose primary domain – the outlet’s flagship website – averaged at least 10 million unique visitors per month from October to December of each year analyzed, according to Comscore, a cross-platform audience measurement company. There were 46 such outlets in 2019; for a full list of outlets and collection methods, see the [methodology](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Digital-native-facts-methodology-new-1.pdf).) [![About half of all digital display ad revenue goes to Facebook, Google](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/07/ft_2020.07.14_digitalmedia_02.png?w=620)](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/07/14/key-facts-about-digital-native-news-outlets-amid-staff-cuts-revenue-losses/ft_2020-07-14_digitalmedia_02-png/) - **A majority of digital display ad revenue goes to two tech companies.** The total number of digital display advertising dollars (to all sites, not just news sites) has been rising rapidly, more than tripling from $21 million in 2014 to $71 million in 2019. But in 2019, about half (53%) of digital display ad revenue went to just two companies: Facebook (42%) and Google (11%). Another 12% went to other tech companies, including Amazon; Verizon Media Group, which owns Yahoo and AOL; Twitter; and Microsoft, among others. - **Employment at digital-native news outlets was **[**steadily rising**](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/04/20/u-s-newsroom-employment-has-dropped-by-a-quarter-since-2008/)** before the outbreak but was still far lower than at newspapers or broadcast TV (local and network).** In 2019, there were about 16,000 newsroom employees at digital-native news organizations, roughly double the figure from 10 years prior, but they were outnumbered by newsroom employees at newspapers (34,950) and in broadcast TV (30,120). [![Employment at digital-native news outlets has been rising steadily but is lower than for newspapers and broadcast television](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/07/ft_2020.07.14_digitalmedia_03.png?w=714)](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/07/14/key-facts-about-digital-native-news-outlets-amid-staff-cuts-revenue-losses/ft_2020-07-14_digitalmedia_03-png/) - **Digital-native news organizations in 2018 were **[**about half as likely to undergo layoffs**](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/08/01/large-u-s-newspapers-layoffs-2018/)** as newspapers, **despite a spate of [high-profile layoffs](https://www.adweek.com/digital/inside-digital-medias-great-upheaval-in-2018-from-layoffs-to-unionized-newsrooms/) in digital media that year. While 27% of large newspapers experienced layoffs in 2018, only 14% of digital-native news outlets did. *Note: See [methodology](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Digital-native-facts-methodology-new-1.pdf) for more details on digital-native news site traffic and digital display revenue.*