Publicis chief says newspapers need to find a balance between paid-for and free

Publicis boss Maurice Levy claims newspapers need to find a balance between free and paid-for online content to survive the digital age.

Speaking at the Abu Dhabi media summit, Levy told the MediaGuardian that newspapers are over-dependent on advertising, saying “the future of analogue media will not be supported by advertising alone”.

“They will have to have profitable access to the internet,” he added.  “It’s not enough to have a big audience on the internet.”

Levy said the online advertising market would not be enough to cover newspapers switch to digital, despite the fact that it is still growing.

“Analogue media has to find a new model,” he said.  Levy also added that “content has a lot of value and it has to be valued reasonably”.

“I think media giving away their content is not a good service to themselves. It’s a shame, a pity,” he said.

However, Levy believes that media companies need to find a balance between paid-for a free, rather than focus on one or the other – “It is not and/or but and/and,” he said.