Ms Stone’s presentation examined the evolution of media companies from the point of view of audience focus. Drawing on research from the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project of the World Association of Newspapers, she noted that a better understanding of how audiences combine traditional and new media for their news, information and entertainment needs can help newspaper companies optimise their reach.

"The audience is taking control of their media habits, we don’t have the ability to command our audiences like we used to," she said.

She cited research done by DDB and Yahoo that showed young people in particular have a new relationship with media than in the past, turning to their mobile and on-line devices for community and connectivity.

She cited several examples of how newspapers are using audience research to modify and enlarge their media offerings. Here are two of them:

 NYTimes.com, which conducted ethnographic research on its website’s users, going to homes, offices and social environs to observe their media behaviours over time. The study identified six "personas of usership" -- online news maven, researcher, planner, newspaper-style readers, latest thing, and break in the day -- and redesigned its website based on the findings.

 The Gotborg-Posten in Sweden, which conducted newspaper reader studies and learned it was under serving ethnic and youth groups. This allowed them to create three new websites tailored to youth segments: Graffiti for 12 to 16 year olds; Attitude, for 17 to 20 year olds; The Avenue, for 20 to 24 year olds.

More about the SFN project at www.futureofthenewspaper.com.

Understanding the Online Consumer

Contrary to conventional wisdom, more people over 50 use the internet than do people under 18, according to Nielsen/NetRatings research.

"It is very important to understand that its not all about the young when you are tailoring, developing and targeting your products, " says Mr Burmaster.

His presentation provided a snapshot of internet usage. Some examples:

 Over 50 percent of the global online population visits news sites each month -- the second fastest growing category behind search.

 Online news consumption is biggest in the United States but that might change -- there is rapid growth in Brazil, Japan and Australia.

 The consumption of audio and video content is massively on the rise. "The potential for large growth and revenue increase lie in the ability to provide more visual and interactive content -- the hot zone on the web," says Mr Burmaster.

Focusing on the Loyal Customer

With 12 million daily circulation, you would think the Asahi Shimbun has its market covered. But even with massive sales, there are holes in its coverage.

The newspaper doesn’t reach people very much during their workday. And it doesn’t reach sufficient numbers of young people.

So the newspaper embarked on a strategy to fill the gaps. Mr Ishioka’s presentation focused on two the Asahi’s responses to the rapidly changing media environment: the first, to offer its content across multiple channels, and to charge for it, and the second, to focus on and reward its most loyal customers. Both strategies are customer generated -- "we have to rethink about the customer’s ultimate goal", says Mr Ishioki.

Asahi has long followed a "channel strategy’ rather than a "product strategy" and has been available on digital platforms since 1995, when asahi.com was launched. It launched a free news site on mobile telephones in 1999, and started charging a fee for the service in 2000 -- a product that now generates significant revenue. It believes in developing a "hybrid" between analog and digital media, developing and better exploiting the customer database, and strengthening brand synergy across platforms.

Here are some of the things that have worked for them:

 Low pricing for mobile services is important. Asahi charges the equivalent of 76 euro cents per month, compared to 1.52 euros and 2.28 euros for its main competitors. It has a million subscribers, compared to 300,000 and 100,000 for its competitors.

 Allowing users to subscribe to the paper newspaper through their phone service has been an effective subscription generator -- 21,000 subscriptions have come via mobile telephones in five years.

What are people doing with all those mobile telephones?

Newspaper executives are always hearing about the potential of news distribution over mobile telephones, but just how are people today using them?

Mr Chady, who presented Telephia’s European research on mobile telephone usage, said they weren’t using news services in large numbers.

Text messaging remains the most popular function of mobile telephones -- after voice, of course -- with 55 percent of consumers saying they sent text messages. Across Europe, only 20 percent of consumers say they use their telephones to access the internet, behind picture messaging (29 percent), and downloads (22 percent).

It appears that the potential for news distribution is still in the future, at least for Europe. Still, there are reasons to be optimistic about its growth. For one thing, mobile operators are considering abandoning the closed portal models they now use, which would make it easier for consumers to access news and other web sites that are not included in the portal. For another, the rapid growth of mobile television offers opportunities.

Trends in Paid Content

Ms Stone presented an overview of trends in paid on-line content, drawing her data from the "New Revenue Strategies" report from the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project, the global research initiative of the World Association of Newspapers.

She noted:

 Payment for investment and business information gained slightly between 2004 and 2005, but payments for general on-line news subscriptions dropped significantly in the United States and the UK.

 Small payments for single articles and archive content ranked highest among small paid content payments in the U.S., but the category fell from 40.9 percent in 2004 to 38.7 percent of all publishers’ content sales in 2005.

 Some media companies continue to succeed in payment for news, business and entertainment content, and Ms Stone cited a few examples and explained what they were doing right -- the Wall Street Journal, Afttonbladet in Sweden, the New York Times, Le Matin in Switzerland.

 Entertainment video presents an opportunity for websites to monetize content.

More on the SFN project at www.futureofthenewspaper.com.

Is the Free Generation Ready to Pay?

Are news consumers ready and willing to pay for on-line news and information?

Ms O’Hare, whose website has been available solely by paid subscription since 2002, says yes -- but some content must still be offered for free, to grow traffic and attract advertising.

Ireland.com has more than 50,000 subscribers, and content subscriptions are its largest revenue stream. Traffic has incresed 250 percent since the subscription launch, and there has been a low level of subscription churn.

Despite this success, ireland.com is backing off from a pure subscription model and will offer a free/paid-for mix, primarily to take advantage of a 40 percent growth in the on-line advertising market. The site, the on-line platform for The Irish Times, has decided to offer breaking news for free, allow non-subscribers to access an abstract of each other, offer new features such as web TV, and develop new products to appeal to international audiences.

What Sticks: How to Make Advertising Work

Mr Stuart, co-author of the best-selling, "What Sticks: How Most Advertising Fails and How to Guarantee Yours Succeeds", presented the results of the global marketing research on which the book is based.

Mr Stuart and his co-author, marketing consultant Rex Briggs, analysed over 1 billion dollars of marketing spending and found that 60 percent of the marketers surveyed developed ad campaigns that did not work.

"If marketers don’t fix advertising, publishers will likely have to," says Mr Stuart. "We, as media owners, cannot continue to let the agencies ruin our businesses. We need to take the responsibility of fixing this for them."

He added: "so what happens every time we as media companies accept an ad that doesn’t perform well? We teach the consumer that advertising doesn’t matter."

He provided insights and suggestions about what works in web advertising. Among them:

 Nothing else matters if creative is wrong -- and online creative is particularly bad. "Better creative can make the difference between success and absolute failure," he said.

 Online advertising needs to pass the "glance" test, allowing consumers to get the message quickly. "That’s all the time that consumers spend with it," he says.

 Media mix matters. "Three ads in three media are better than three ads in one media."

The tried and true -- and the very new

Multi-media, interactive, video, cross-media advertising sales. None of these things fall into traditional newspaper competencies, yet all are important for online success.

"The storytelling process has changed," says Mr Leonard.

"This is critical for us. We don’t see ourselves as a broadcaster, but we have to be a provider. The BBC is just a click away. We have to think about the consumer, and what their options are without getting up from their chair or their desk."

The same goes for advertising sales. "New sales skills are critical in that mix," he says. "How do we bring broadcast-capable sales staff into a newspaper web site? You need that kind of currency and that level of skill, which is very different from selling off print."

Two conflicting thoughts are powering digital developments at The Times -- there are no new ideas, and there are infinite new ideas.

Or, put another way, Mr Leonard says new media success calls for mixing old ideas, better executed, with new ideas that require new ways of working to meet market demand.

"From newsrooms, all the way through production -- there are things that are new and disruptive in workflows," he says. "It is critical to get it right, and get it right now. The new storytelling skills. Commercially, the sales skills we need, the ability to sell video and broadcast. And last but not least are the data skills."