Mathias Döpfner: Free newspapers will fail
The CEO of Axel Springer does not see free newspapers as a solution to the problems of the print media.
Free newspapers may have temporary success due to the "free mentality", but the business model itself is doomed to failure. This is the opinion of Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Axel Springer AG. The phenomenon of free newspapers has provoked the view in many quarters that in future all newspaper publishers will offer both free and paid-for titles. Döpfner does not share this opinion. He sees traditional media in danger due to the ageing population and the loss of young readers to digital media. However, free newspapers are not a solution to this problem. The head of Germany's largest media company names two alternative strategies for newspapers: On the one hand, the close linking of the Internet and print products and, on the other, "good old newspaper start-ups". Döpfner will present these models at the World Newspaper Congress in June, according to the World Association of Newspapers.
