Nearly fifty per cent of advertising budgets in Asia are now being captured by social media platforms and digital influencers, a shift that is rapidly hollowing out the financial base of traditional media and threatening the future of independent journalism, Regional Advisor – Asia and Africa of International Media Support (Denmark) Dr. Ranga Kalansooriya warned.

Delivering the keynote address on “Emerging new media and the future of print journalism” at the launch of Pathrakala Prasadini — a compilation of mass communication articles by 20 senior scholars and veteran journalists — Dr. Kalansooriya said advertisers were increasingly diverting funds away from television, radio and print towards digital platforms, believing influencer-led promotions to be more “usable, user-friendly and penetrative”.

Sri Lanka’s advertising market for 2025–2026 was estimated at around US$ 400 million, he said. While nearly 90 per cent of that revenue had flowed to traditional media in previous years, the share had now shrunk to about 70 per cent, with roughly 30 per cent going to social media. Of the funds reaching mainstream media, television still commanded around 60 per cent, with radio and print together accounting for about 30 per cent, and the balance spent on billboards and other outdoor advertising.

Television, once the dominant beneficiary of 80–85 per cent of advertising expenditure, had seen its share erode significantly, Dr. Kalansooriya noted, warning that radio and print had been hit the hardest. “If one has money to invest, there are now four or five radio channels on sale,” he observed, underlining the financial distress in the sector.

A further concern, he said, was that much of the advertising money flowing into social media did not remain in Sri Lanka. An estimated 30 per cent of the national advertising budget was remitted overseas to global tech giants such as Meta and Google, as influencers and digital advertisers relied on foreign-owned platforms. This outflow, he warned, was likely to rise to between 35 and 40 per cent in the coming year.

Major advertisers in Sri Lanka had already begun splitting their budgets equally between digital and mainstream media, he said, even as television networks maintained they still commanded the lion’s share. The question, Dr. Kalansooriya cautioned, was whether that dominance could be sustained in the years ahead.

Placing the financial crisis in a broader democratic context, he said the media industry in Sri Lanka had rarely been a consistently profitable enterprise, with owners often subsidising operations through income from other businesses. Advertising revenue had traditionally sustained media institutions, and its erosion now imperilled their survival.

“We speak of the media as the fourth pillar of democracy,” Dr. Kalansooriya said. “There cannot be democracy without independent media. If independent media collapses, democracy collapses with it. Then who performs that role — Facebook, YouTube or TikTok?”

While many traditional media houses had moved into the digital space and begun seeking revenue through subscriptions and monetisation, he warned that this too risked deepening dependence on foreign platforms. Big Tech companies, he argued, were positioning themselves to replace independent media as key arbiters of public discourse, even as they claimed creators benefited from monetisation schemes.

Dr. Kalansooriya said several Asian countries had already begun grappling with the implications of this shift. Governments in the region were exploring mechanisms to support mainstream media, including public funds, regulatory interventions and the mobilisation of local capital. Canada, he noted, had introduced direct financial support for media institutions, while countries such as the Philippines and Indonesia had sought to channel corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds into sustaining news organisations.

He cautioned, however, that reliance on politicised corporate funding carried its own risks. In India, he said, an estimated 90 per cent of traditional media ownership had already shifted into the hands of business interests aligned with the political leadership, leaving only a small fraction of independent outlets, many of them digital.

The keynote address was delivered at an event held at the Russian Cultural Centre in Colombo to mark the launch of Pathrakala Prasadini, published in line with the 70th anniversary conference of the Sri Lanka Press Association and the D. F. Kariyakarawana Memorial Journalism awards. Director of the Colombo Russian House Maria Popova was the guest of honour.

By Saman Indrajith ✍️