MDIF Impact Dashboard 2013

MDIF Impact Dashboard 2013

The Media Development Impact Dashboard 2013 analyses data from 2012 on client sales and financial viability to assess the economic sustainability of our clients, as well as on reach and employment to track their wider impact on the societies in which they operate.

View the interactive Impact Dashboard presentation showcasing the key findings, and access the complete PDF of the MDIF Impact Dashboard 2013.

65m

people reached with information by MDIF clients

111%

average reach increase after 5 years with MDIF

240%

average sales increase after 5 years with MDIF

$2.22

leveraged by each dollar invested

The Impact Dashboard 2013 finds that more people than ever before get their news from MDIF clients – up to 65 million people in countries where access to free and independent media is under threat – and that working with MDIF strengthens a news business’s sustainability.

These are some of the findings of our eighth Impact Dashboard, a detailed analysis of the impact of our work on the financial sustainability of independent news businesses.

By tracking the performance of each client throughout the length of our relationship, usually more than five years, we are able to assess our impact on each client’s business over time.

The key findings of the Impact Dashboard 2013 include:

  • Up to 65 million people in developing democracies got their news from our clients in 2012 – 55 million through traditional media and 10 million through digital. (There will be some double-counting, as some people get their news through both types of media, however, it is not yet possible to reliably estimate the amount of  audience duplication.)
  • After 5 years with MDIF, clients on average increased their sales by 240% and their reach by 111%.
  • For every $10,000 invested, MDIF supported access to independent news for 12,971 readers, listeners and viewers.
  • Each dollar invested by MDIF leveraged $2.22 in client sales.

Although client reach grew strongly in 2012 – 52% for traditional media and 82% for digital – the economic challenges facing news businesses as they confront both the digital transition and the continuing fall-out of the global financial crisis are clear: last year, sales grew on average by only 0.7%.

Want to know more about impact?

Read MDIF’s Impact Dashboard, an annual analysis of our impact results.