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THE market for print media remains “very much alive” in the digital age, but newspaper groups need to “take action now” to ensure they’ll thrive in the evolving environment, according to new research by strategy consultants Roland Berger.

The consultants dismiss the idea that online advertising will cannibalise print, stressing that while online is the “fastest growing advertising segment”, newspapers “are losing far less ground to the online boom than many had anticipated”.

In 2011 online advertising is expected to generate revenues of $73bn (€46.6bn) while print revenues are expected to come in at $197bn (€126bn), the consultants add, citing a recent PriceWaterhouse Coopers report.

On content, the report says print needs to give readers an “individual experience” by focusing more on “agenda setting, background and opinion pieces”.

The consultants add that several international newspapers successfully use “multi-formats”, where different readers are targeted with different versions of the same paper.

“Brand investment” will also become “more and more important”, the report says, while newspaper groups also have an “optimal platform” to tap the growth in events.

Gavin O’Reilly, chairman of the industry group the World Association of Newspapers (WAN), said he was “not surprised” by the report’s finding, which echoed those of similar research commissioned by WAN.

He added that publishers were already “better reflecting the needs of consumers” by “investing in varying shapes, sizes and formats”, while groups were also growing their other businesses through exhibitions and conferences

Investment in newspapers’ brands, however, is still “not enough”, said Mr O’Reilly, who is also chief operating officer of Independent News & Media.

“That is a point that WAN keeps focusing on and encouraging newspaper brands to properly invest behind their brands and move away from short-term promotions,” he added.