Maurice Lévy: “Print media’s business model is broken”

Publicis Groupe chairman Maurice Lévy says that the business model for print media is broken.

Speaking at yesterday’s Fipp World Magazine Congress in London, Lévy said that there were tough times ahead for traditional media, with structural issues at the heart of the problem.

He said: “The end of the economic crisis will not be, I’m sorry to say, the end of the crisis for analogue media. You are facing a deep and profound structural revolution and have to be prepared for a new world.”

“Circulation has been decreasing for years now and no stimulus package can stop this long-term trend,” he added.

However, although advertising revenue will increasingly move online, he said, magazines and print media have a valuable resource in the content they produce.

Lévy told the audience that print media needs to innovate to ensure its long-term future, pointing out that the internet is still a young medium which can bear fruit for those willing to take risks.

In a final note of warning, he said that there is no “Holy Grail, one-size fits all” business model for companies wanting to succeed in the current climate.

“Each company, each title, each media will have to find its own model,” he said.