Crypto PR Report: Only 18% of EU Web3 Media Grew in Q1 2025

Outset PR Only 18% of Western EU Crypto Media Grew in Q1 2025

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The first quarter of 2025 brought a reckoning to the crypto media landscape in Western Europe. Just 18% of regional crypto-native publications grew their audience in Q1 2025. 

That’s the topline figure from Outset PR’s latest dataset — but it masks a deeper imbalance. The first quarter didn’t simply produce a few success stories, it marked a consolidation. While retail interest in digital assets continued to rise, crypto media visibility contracted, and nearly all readership coalesced around just three dominant language markets: Germany, France, and the Netherlands.

The Western Europe findings build on Outset PR’s earlier LATAM research, which tracked similar contractions across Spanish-language crypto publications. Now, with data from more than 80 outlets, the agency’s latest analysis shows over 81% of Western European crypto sites lost traffic in Q1 — a shift driven by the broader market shakeup, the MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets) regulation, search algorithm changes, and fragmented compliance strategies. 

The result: a landscape where a handful of outlets captured outsized reach, while most others fell behind or faded from view.

Only 18.4% of crypto-native media in Western Europe gained traffic, Outset PR reports

From Expansion to Centralization: The New Crypto Media Order

According to the data, just seven publications crossed one million monthly visits by March 2025. Together, these seven outlets accounted for more than 60% of all crypto readership across Western Europe in Q1 — a dramatic level of concentration.

Outset PR’s Q1 2025 data: 60% of crypto media traffic in Western Europe went to just 7 outlets with over 1M visits

By contrast, 58 other outlets each drew under 100,000 monthly visits, together accounting for just 6.2% of total traffic.

Germany: Dominant But Divided

Germany continues to be the largest linguistic and geographic center of crypto readership in the region. The country’s leading outlet, BTC Echo, rebounded strongly in March with 2.75M visits after a rough February.

Still, many German outlets struggled. Cointelegraph DE dropped to 390K visits in March, falling over 51% month-over-month (MoM). Other sharp declines were observed for Bitcoin-2go.de, Krypto-Guru.de, and ETF Nachrichten.

The volatility highlights the divide: a few platforms have built systems to weather the regulatory storm, while many others remain vulnerable to content de-ranking and licensing uncertainty.

The Netherlands: High Engagement, High Turbulence

The Dutch-speaking crypto media ecosystem remains one of the most active in the region. The Netherlands is home to three of the top five crypto outlets by traffic: Bitcoin Magazine NL, Crypto Insiders, and Newsbit NL.

Bitcoin Magazine NL’s strong March recovery came after a steep February drop, suggesting effective adaptation to new content standards or improved Google Discover visibility.

However, turbulence persisted across the long tail. Platforms like WeAreBlox, Bitcoinkoers.org, and MarketUpdate.nl saw steep traffic losses. Cryptonieuwsbrief.nl, which gained in February, crashed by 76.26% in March — an example of how short-term wins can evaporate in a volatile search environment.

Still, the Dutch market clearly holds attention, with four outlets surpassing 1M visits and several others, such as Coinmarketcap.nl, posting healthy growth.

France: Steady Contender with Signs of Polarization

The French-speaking segment accounted for four of the top 15 outlets by traffic in Q1. Leading the charge was Cointribune with 1.87M March visits. Despite a modest dip in March, the outlet remained a top performer thanks to multilingual strategy and integration with a larger media group. Other strong French performers included Cryptoast, Cryptonaute, InvestX, Blockchain France, and ActuCrypto.info.

That said, polarization is growing. Coinacademy.fr lost 34.87% in March, Cointelegraph FR dropped 27.83%, and Journalducoin.com declined 15.68%. Many lower-tier French sites, such as Coins.fr and Miroir-mag.fr, fell below 5K monthly visits.

The divergence reflects a key theme: outlets that invested in compliance, multilingual publishing, or structured SEO bounced back, while under-resourced or opaque platforms fell behind.

The Rest: Fragmented and Falling Behind

Outside of Germany, France, and the Netherlands, most regional outlets struggled to retain readership.

In Italy, no site reached 500K monthly visits. Even major players like The Cryptonomist, Criptovaluta, it, and Cointelegraph IT failed to recover from early-quarter losses. Only Borsainside showed consistent growth — but it remained under 20K visits.

Spain saw some recovery through Cointelegraph en Español and Bit2Me News, which surged 149.4% to reach 104K visits. However, other Spanish-language sites — BeInCrypto ES, CriptoPasion, and CryptoNoticias — stayed in decline.

In the UK, performance was similarly muted. My Crypto Space UK grew 19.99% in March, but still hovered below 12K visits. The Crypto Adviser.co.uk, despite a 162% jump, remained a low-traffic player. Other outlets, including Bitcourier, CryptoUK, and CryptoIntelligence, saw double-digit declines.

Beyond the Numbers

The takeaway is clear: crypto media in Western Europe has entered a consolidation phase. High-traffic growth is occurring, but only for a select few outlets with scale, multilingual support, or structured compliance strategies.

While the most visible players remain concentrated in Germany, France, and the Netherlands, several smaller platforms showing consistent MoM growth still offer SEO-driven leverage. In an increasingly volatile discovery landscape — where algorithm updates can upend rankings overnight — long-term exposure depends on adaptive publishing. 

As the MiCA era matures and country-specific rules tighten, the winners in crypto media will be those who adapt not just to compliance — but to platform shifts, SEO turbulence, and evolving user expectations. Outset PR’s full Q1 analysis, including outlet-level performance and regional traffic data, is available on their blog, with new reports shared regularly via their X profile.