Finnish newspaper's experience questions profitability of online-only, says study

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A newspaper title would have to be running at a loss of 31 per cent to make going online-only worthwhile, new research from London's City University has suggested.

Research focused on the fortunes of Finnish financial daily Taloussanomat after it published its last print edition, and found that moving online cannot bring a newspaper back to profitability alone, according to a release announcing the findings.

However, a number of smaller, loss-making titles will soon be forced to make this decision, following recent moves by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Christian Science Monitor, suggested researchers Neil Thurman and Merja Myllylahti.

The study's forecast for the industry has been based on Taloussanomat, which, after going online-only five months ago, has recorded a 22 per cent drop in unique users and 11 per cent fall in page impressions.

The title's revenue has decreased by 75 per cent over the same period, because of the loss of print advertising, the study found.

But a reduction in costs of 52 per cent has offset the loss in revenue at this stage, because the title was previously loss-making, said the research.

In the case of Taloussanomat, original reporting on the website had declined by 80 per cent since its switch to online-only - the result of reduced resources and a demand for 'a higher turnover of stories to encourage multiple daily visits', according to the release.

Despite focusing online, the title has become no more innovative in its use of multimedia or user-generated content than counterparts with a print edition and website, the research added.

"Although theoretically free to experiment with fresh forms of news delivery, the online-only newspaper was constrained by traditional working patterns and the loss of 75 per cent of its income," said the study's authors in the release.

"[O]nline-only newspapers will find it more difficult to build brand visibility and maintain independence as the financial pressures to syndicate content increase and merges and acquisitions continue apace."

The report can be read in full via the City University website . More detail from the report can be found on Journalism.co.uk's Editors' Blog .