What Happened to Print in South Africa - What Closed, What Survived, and What It Costs Now

South Africa’s print market is not “dead”; it is split between collapsing mass-market newspapers, a publisher shift toward digital subscriptions, and a smaller set of print formats that still retain enough audience to sell. As the Competition Commission’s Media and Digital Platforms Market Inquiry says, print circulation has declined sharply, with daily newspapers down 66% from 2018 to 2023 and daily-plus-weekend papers down 55% over the same period. The story, however, is not as simple as a blanket decline.

The scale of the decline

The Competition Commission of South Africa's 2026 report shows that since 2018, daily newspapers have seen a steep drop, with their circulation falling by 66%. The picture is equally bleak for combined daily and weekend papers, which have declined by 55% over the same period. These numbers paint a stark picture of a market in flux, but they tell only half the story.

The Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) of South Africa's figures for Q2 2024 provide a closer look. Total newspaper circulation fell by 17.3% year-on-year, settling at 5,280,761 across all newspaper categories. Breaking it down further, daily newspapers saw an 18.0% decline, while weekly newspapers dropped by 11.9%. The most significant drop, however, occurred in weekend newspapers, which experienced a 26.3% year-on-year plunge.

These numbers illustrate a market in sharp decline, but they also illustrate the layered nature of that decline. Advertisers looking at print no longer have a simple market to handle but a diverse set of deliverables.

What publishers did instead

Media24, a key player in South Africa's news landscape, was clear about the transition in its 2024 figures. Digital-only subscriptions to News24 and Netwerk24 grew by 19% year-on-year, topping 200,000. The 2023 annual report spoke bluntly of the shift, stating that while Media24 was grappling with inconsistent and dropping print circulations, the digital side was holding firm.

This is part of a broader shift across the industry. The Competition Commission’s report explains that in 2026, digital subscriptions now take the form of monthly access to premium content. This, in turn, along with paywalls and metered access, is a key form of digital access control and revenue diversification for publishers.

The Media24 break point

By 2025, the transition had become a full shift for Media24. In a watershed moment, the organization discontinued most of its printed newspapers, as reported by BusinessLive’s breakdown of the 2025 shareholder reports. This includes the closing of print and PDF editions as newspapers reach the end of their viable natural lives.

The tumultuous change was marked by the ABC’s Q3 2025 report, which noted that the drop in newspaper circulation year-on-year "was impacted by the closure of many Media24 titles, and that paid dailies fell 4% year on year and paid weekends 9% year on year after stripping those closures from the equation.

What survived

Even with the tumult, specific formats and titles remained viable. The ABC’s Q3 2025 report shows that after accounting for closures, there’s still an audience to reach. Paid dailies dropped 4% year-on-year, and paid weekends dropped 9%. In total, magazines and newspapers together saw a 0.3% quarter-on-quarter and 2.1% year-on-year growth in circulation, hitting just under 8.5 million. That’s the most significant volume since Q1 2024, and one point for potential buyers to consider.

For publishers, having some form of print to support has proven crucial. Naspers’s 2019 annual report showed that in the instance of a format change such as the one affecting Die Burger’s Eastern Cape edition, it’s possible to maintain audiences. The bursting of print circulation wasn’t a disappearance of the readership but a shift from six days of print in shops to weekday digital editions, while retaining subscriptions as a change occurred.

Why this still matters to advertisers

For media buyers, theorizing about the decline of print isn’t as important as pricing audience and reach amid the changes. The Competition Commission underlines this point: The decline in print demand has reduced advertising revenue, which in turn has made print more expensive. The drop in print reach makes advertisers more discerning about their commitment to print.

The ABC’s figures this year demonstrate just how fine-tuned that reach needs to be. Daily newspapers cover only a sliver of their once-great audience, and the weekend newspapers’ audience fell faster than either dailies or weeklies. Knowing that is vital for those still considering print, even if the reach comes at a higher price.

The practical buying question

To answer the hopeful print buyer, it’s vital not to ask if print is dead but rather if it matters. When 8.5 million copies survive the turmoils of recent years, it’s still a powerful reach for the right message.

ABC’s Q3 figures show which categories currently deliver. With a detailed break down of paid categories, including dailies, weeklies, weekends, and home-alone audiences, the questions moving forward will be in understanding unlocking the right audience. The answer to that is not an "either/or" on either print or digital. The answer will likely involve some combination of both.

Thinking of print as dead is a mistake. Thinking of it as a single audience is another. The challenge for media buyers moving forward is in assembling the right portfolio and making the hard choice on which copies continue to have the audiences worth buying, in print or otherwise.