Almost 90% of European newspaper publishers believe that digitally printed newspapers will be a commercial reality by 2010. This is one of the findings of a new report from Digital Dots, published in partnership with Ifra, the international organisation for media publishing.
The
Digital Newsprint for Roaming Readers report, which surveyed 50 European newspaper publishers, also found that digital printing technology has quite a way to go before it will begin to threaten analogue technology. However, whilst publishers agree that digital printing will become a reality, opinion is vastly divided on when this will happen: Predictions range from now through to 2225.
“The reasons for such diversity are inevitably subjective, from technological cynicism through to questions of economic viability. What is not in doubt however is that digital printing can work, if not for all then at least for some newspaper applications. According to nearly 90% of respondents in the investigation digital printing will be a commercial reality for newspapers by 2010,” says the report.
Building the subscription base Around 64% of respondents believe that digitally-printed remote editions of newspapers are a means of developing their circulation base. Again, opinion is divided as half of the remainder believe that remote markets are unsustainable. Nevertheless, the development of the subscription base is thought to be the route to new revenue models for many papers.
Over 72% of survey participants believe that subscribers should be able to receive copies away from home. Over half believe that remote on-demand newspapers should be financially supported through subscriptions.
“Web-based subscriber services are an innovative means of extracting costs and such a service could have interesting possibilities for reaching new subscribers. The idea of combining web-based subscription management with short-run digital newsprint is one that few European newspapers have yet to implement,” claims the study.
