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87% of the South Africa population obtain their news online, mostly through their mobile phones.
That was said by Paula Fray, a panel member on the Competition Commission's Media and Digital Platforms Market Inquiry, who was speaking at the release of their interim report on Monday.
She said intermediaries, such as search, and social media platforms have also become primary sources of news for most people.
Unpacking some of the other findings, Fray also said that news videos, preferred by the youth over text, are mostly watched on social media platforms and not news websites.
She said the shift to online has led to a massive decline in traditional advertising revenue sources of around 40% for major print publications.
"Broadcasters are not immune to this trend and the SABC ad revenue declined 47% from its peak," she said.
Fray said the news media has been unable to replace this lost revenue, which she said was four to five times the gain in digital revenue.
"This is partly due to greater digital ad inventory, and lower ad rates. But it is also because news is increasingly being consumed through the search and social media intermediaries which dominate digital advertising.
"AI bots, chat bots, will represent a new intermediary threat to the news media," she added.
In a statement the Competition Commission said the interim report was the culmination “of extensive evidence gathering, public and in-camera hearings, expert report submissions, consultation with industry role players, a consumer survey, and focus group discussions”.
It said the provisional findings, recommendations, and proposed remedial actions were now open for public comment and stakeholder consultation before the final report is released.
The Competition Commission said it initiated the inquiry, lasting 16 months, because it “had reason to believe that there are market features on digital platforms that distribute news media content that impede, distort, or restrict competition, or undermine the purposes of the Act”.
It noted that the financial challenges to commercial and community media, as well as the public broadcaster, have led to shrinking newsrooms, closed bureaus, and news deserts outside the metros.
“There is limited scope in SA for the majority to pay for news and subscription models are not an option for the public and community media.
“This threatens access to news and media diversity.
“Whilst there are challenges that the media must face from the disruptive effect of digitalisation, the Inquiry provisionally finds that these challenges are exacerbated by the conduct of platforms that hinder the ability of the news media to secure and monetise digital traffic.
“These digital platforms do not produce news themselves and cannot replace journalism’s role,” the Commission’s statement said.
Provisional findings were made against major tech giants including Google, Meta (Facebook), Microsoft, OpenAI, X (formerly Twitter), and TikTok, along with provisional remedies across search, social media, generative AI, and digital advertising to “address conduct that adversely impact competition for digital advertising and journalism in South Africa”.
The Competition Commission said these provisional findings and remedies only apply to South African operations for global and domestic companies.
“The Inquiry has considered the difficulties faced by the media bargaining solution in other markets and has sought to find alternative win-win solutions that are sustainable long-term.
“In many cases, the Inquiry has presented the outcomes it wishes to see whilst giving space for platforms to see how best this can be achieved,” the statement added.
Some of the key provisional remedies include:
The full provisional report detailing the findings, proposed remedies and recommendations can be accessed at https://www.compcom.co.za/mdpmi/
