Death of Newsprint - Again?

The demise of the paid for printed newspaper has long been forecast, but up until now most major newspapers have insisted that their original paper format is their lead product and the digital one a supplement to that.

However, Guardian News & Media (GNM), proprietors of UK papers The Guardian and The Observer, has now announced a "major transformation programme" to reduce the role of print and make the papers "digital first".  Over the next five years, GNM plan to redirect a £25 million investment originally planned for print towards digital innovation instead.  By March 2012, the idea is that the print edition will be a smaller, less resource draining concept that has moved away from breaking news more towards analysis.
Print still plays a role in this new plan; there is no suggestion that this is a quiet euthanasia of the old flagships.  In fact, the stated aim is to grow the base of existing Guardian Extra subscribers, to both boost income and also learn more about these core readers.  

It is a bold ambition.  Of the £221 million in revenue GNM raised in 2009/10, less than 20% was from digital channels, and the company itself continues to make a loss overall; something it hopes to remedy by reducing the considerable cost an extensive print edition incurs.  The brands will need to significant raise internet marketing revenue, and quickly, especially as the plan is for the digital content on the web to stay free (although charging for the iPad edition is likely).

For digital advertisers, the news is interesting; expect many more ad opportunities from GNM, followed by other papers who - pretty much inevitably - will be following suit.