Publishers therefore need to look for other means to make their web operations profitable.

"Profiting from Digital," a new report from the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project of the World Association of Newspapers, presents digital media strategies that are delivering success to newspaper publishers today, rather than attempt to forecast the likely value of untried technologies that are emerging.

"Ad revenues are growing but remain relatively small, and few web site consumers seem willing to pay for general news content," said Jim Chisholm, Director of the SFN project. "So publishers need to be far cleverer about providing content people want to pay for -- there has to be more emphasis on what is relevant to people’s lives."

"Profiting from Digital" will be published to coincide with "Beyond the Printed Word," the annual IFRA, WAN and FIPP electronic publishing conference, to be held in Prague, Czech Republic, on 3 and 4 November (more information here).

The report will be available through subscription to the SFN project (click here to subscribe). The SFN project, which WAN conducts with six strategic business partners, identifies, analyses and publicises all important breakthroughs and opportunities that can benefit newspapers all over the world.

"Profiting from Digital" comes exactly ten years after WAN’s first reports on digital media.

Since then, visiting a daily newspaper site is one of the top three uses of the internet, according to a Forrester study in the United States. This usage is also considered to be one of the most important activities in the lives of respondents.

"Media consumers nevertheless continue to prove unwilling to pay for general online newspaper content," said Mr Chisholm. "And newspapers need to be more imaginative and attuned to the demands of the new generations of media consumers if they are to profit from the ever increasing use of digital media."

For example, the report includes 11 examples of content that people will pay for (sports results, personal health, personal security etc.) and four they won’t (news that doesn’t affect them, most politics, non-local events, the arts).

It also includes a range of case studies about services that people will pay for:

  Alerts concerning vital news, items for purchase such as houses, cars, bargains, and financial information that can be sent by e-mail or mobile text.

  Archives of historical information relating to issues of particular interest.

  Aggregation of content from different sources that would not be easily available to the general population.

  Transactions that offer discounts are worth paying for, but most readers or users will expect the trader or website to cover the transaction costs, or commissions.

  Intelligent search that enables users to dig deeper faster, rather than having to trawl through secondary content.

In addition to the annual strategy reports, SFN provides WAN members and subscribers with a library of case studies and business ideas, and a wealth of other vital information for all those who need to follow press industry trends (www.futureofthenewspaper.com).

WAN conducts the SFN project with support from six international partners -- PubliGroupe, the Swiss-based international advertising and promotion group; MAN Roland, a leading company for newspaper production systems; UPM-Kymmene, one of the world’s leading printing paper producers; Unisys, a leading supplier of mission-critical solutions, services and innovative technology to the publishing industry; Telenor, the leading Norwegian telecommunications, IT and media group; and Samsung Electronics, a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, and digital convergence technology.

The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 72 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives in 102 countries, 13 news agencies and ten regional and world-wide press groups.

Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications, WAN, 7 rue Geoffroy St Hilaire, 75005 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail: lkilman@wan.asso.fr.