By Emeka Aginam, Asst. Online Editor
The  Chief Executive Officer of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) Christoph Riess has said that paid-for digital content holds the future for the newspaper industry as internet advertising revenues will never replace those lost to print.

The WAN-IFRA CEO who spoke last week week at the just concluded  17th World Editors forum held  in Hamburg, Germany while advising publishers to prepare for the challenges ahead   noted that,  “Will paid content generate revenue? It’s not a question of yes or no.

It’s a question of how. In order to survive, we have to do it”, adding that “The digital revenues for advertising will never reach those of print,” he said in an annual update of world press trends.

“Digital advertising is based on very low yields. But, in the future, the digital business, despite these low yields, will have a strong impact. Therefore, the paid content model will be more important. Content revenue will have an increasing importance in the revenue mix

“What digital advertising there is goes mostly to two companies  Google and Yahoo, which between them split 70 percent of all internet advertising revenues.

“If you’re talking about internet advertising, it’s about two companies. We don’t see the great riches reaching our industry”

According to him, there is no global business model for paid-for content, since market conditions, and dominant distribution platforms, vary from continent to continent, country to country, business to business.

“Every company has to choose its own business model, because the platforms are changing,” Mr Riess said, adding that mobile in particular was beginning to deliver on its promise of revenue generation from content.

Riess also stressed that the role of print should not be underestimated, despite the false conventional wisdom that the print business is dying, adding that daily newspapers reach 25 percent of the world’s population, which rises to 37 percent when non-daily newspapers are added.

There are one-third more newspaper readers world-wide than internet users, he said, adding that,
“Newspapers reach more of the global population than the internet. This is a fact and we should not forget it. But there is no comfort in this, due to the development of the internet.

“But the newspaper, with its strong position, can play an important role in the internet busines.It will be in the future, no matter what form the newspaper takes  paid or free, local or general, paper or digital -it will be and remain the dominant media force in the world”

Mr Riess’ presentation was drawn from World Press Trends, the annual publication from WAN-IFRA that includes data from all 233 countries and territories where newspapers are published.