Statistical, Ecosystems and Competitiveness Analysis of the Media and Content Industries: The Newspaper Publishing Industry

Preface 
Media and Content Industries (MCI) carry out an array of heterogeneous economic activities, 
which encompass publishing (including music), sound, motion picture and video/TV 
production, programming, distribution and broadcasting industries, as well as diverse 
information services. 
The common thread in these activities is that they are all conducted by establishments 
primarily engaged in the creation and dissemination of information and cultural products. 
Also, the last decade witnessed a progressive intertwining of these activities amongst 
themselves and with the ICT sector, which increasingly provides the means for disseminating 
MCI products. At the same time, there was rapid change in the way these establishments 
worked and their business models (production and distribution processes, key players, 
organisation, etc.). Last, but not least, there was a substantial increase in the overall weight of 
MCI in the EU economy. 
While understanding and mastering the descriptive quantitative tools that we have at hand is 
important, it is even more essential to grasp the current dynamics in the various industries in 
the Media and Content sector, possibly in relation with those in the ICT sector, in order to 
adapt our metrics and analysis to the current and emerging transformations of these sectors.
Therefore in 2009, IPTS launched a research project on the "Statistical, ecosystems and 
competitiveness analysis of the Media and Content Industries". This research initially 
included the preparation of a statistical report, a historical report and three subsector case 
studies, each supported by a dataset and technical annex. In 2010, IPTS decided to 
complement the initial case studies (cinema, music and newspaper) with two additional 
subsectors (book publishing and broadcasting) in order to provide a comprehensive view of 
the sector. In 2010, IPTS had already released a case study of the video games industry,
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a fast 
growing segment of the sector. 
This set of studies has two objectives: 
1. To offer a quantitative statistical approach to the Media and Content Industries, including 
their extension or blurring boundaries due to: offline and online activities; innovative 
activities deriving from recently developed technological applications (i.e. P2P, WEB 20, 
social computing or other related current or emerging trends and technologies); specific 
sub-industries, companies or products that would not readily fit existing taxonomies. 
The above dynamics were reflected in a wide-ranging revision of both taxonomies and 
classifications. Indeed, the definition itself of the MCI sector stems from a long standing 
process of standards revision guided by the OECD. This led to the profiling of the digital 
economy, and the conceptual identification of the MCI and ICT sectors as the two 
components of the Information Economy domain (OECD 2007, 2009). Similarly, the 
recently completed revisions of international classifications of economic activities 
(UNSD 2006, Eurostat 2008) led to the creation of a specific section (the highest rank in 
classifications) for Information and Communication activities, which includes both MCI 
and ICT services. 
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The report starts by introducing the technologies, their characteristics, market diffusion and barriers to take up, 
and their potential economic impact, before moving to an analysis of their contribution to the competitiveness 
of the European ICT industry. It concludes by suggesting policy options. De Prato, G., Feijóo, C., Nepelski, D., 
Bogdanowicz, M., Simon, J.P (2010) “Born digital/ Grown digital. Assessing the future competitiveness of the 
EU video games software industry”, JRC Scientific and Technical Report, 24555 EN. Available online at 
http://ipts.jrc.ec.europa.eu/publications/pub.cfm?id=3759

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