Summer recap: Who’s the average audience for indie news? What do they think and do differently thanks to indie news? What will they pay for it?

Joe Mitchell, PINF’s deputy director, provides a little summer bonus recap of our eye-opening audience research from earlier this year. 

If you can remember as far back as… two months ago, you’ll know that PINF recently produced the fifth edition of the Index of Indie News Providers as well as the very first Survey of Indie News Audiences 

If you totally missed this and want to hoover up 100% of the data and insights, you can go straight to the PDFs — this one on providers and this one on audiences.  

But if you have an important appointment with a lilo and one of those cocktails with an umbrella in it shortly, the rest of this blogpost will very quickly run through the findings from the audiences survey in particular — as I think they deserve more prominence.  

The audience survey was completed by some 2,000 audience members across 21 providers. It  shows some of the most interesting, compelling findings we have on the power of the UK’s independent news providers to benefit people’s lives.  

First, we looked for the impact on indie news audiences’ thoughts and feelings:  

• 88% feel better informed about their community 

• 81% feel better informed about things that affect them 

• 71% feel more closely connected to their community  

• 70% feel like their community has more of a voice 

• 55% feel more hopefully about their community 

Second, we asked about the impact on indie news audiences’ actions and behaviours: 

• 79% say they’ve discussed news with people more 

• 55% say that they support local businesses more 

• 45% say they’ve taken part in more consultations affecting them 

• 43% say they’ve attended more events 

• 32% agree they’ve taken part in voting or elections more 

• 27% say they have more contact with someone in a position of power 

• 25% say they’ve volunteered in their community more 

• 25% say they’ve joined a community organisation 

I find those results amazing. And they provide ample reasons, you might think, to support indie news, but: 

• 24% say they support the provider financially 

• 4% say they support through volunteer or in-kind donations (e.g. donating equipment) 

• 27% say they didn’t know that was an option 

• 42% say they don’t want to or can’t right now 

We asked those who had not yet supported their indie news provider for what might encourage them to do so in the future. Many respondents said they would if they had more income, or if they were nudged to do so. Others said they might make a one-off subscription but were unlikely to do a monthly subscription. Some said ‘news should be free’. Others wanted more output and more ways to consume the output (e.g. video or podcast). Some wanted to know exactly what difference their financial support would make.  

What do they think is a fair amount to contribute?  

• 29% said Nothing 

• 32% said £1-£3 per month 

• 25% said £3-£5 per month 

• 11% said £5-£10 per month 

• 3% said over £10 per month 

That’s an average of £2.75/month, or, if we exclude the people who won’t pay anything, an average of £3.89. 

Without sufficient financial support, it’s likely that many providers would disappear. What would audiences do in that case?  

• 39% say they would access less news overall 

• 39% say they would access more news from other sources 

• 19% say they would access more news from social media 

• 14% say they would access more news from mainstream sources 

• 11% said there would be no change 

We also did a quick demographic look at the audiences. You can see the full breakdown in the PDF, but some averages:  

• The average age of an audience member of indie news is approximately 53 years.  

• They are, on average, a woman.  

• They have an average income of c. £28,000.  

And that was it. It was a pilot, and a useful one I think. I’ve heard from a few providers saying they’ll use this information — not least to really try to make it clear when they’re asking for donations.  

If there’s other stuff you’d like to know — or you’re doing your own audiences surveys and would be happy to share the data (even if just privately to PINF), do get in touch. 

Lastly, what should you do if you can’t get enough of PINF’s research? Don’t panic. I’m excited to say that — as part of research and design work on a UK Local News Fund — work to update the Local News Map is underway, and a State of Local News 2025 Report should follow in the autumn. Until then, enjoy the rest of the summer!  

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