The Future for Print Media – Partner, Predator or Prey?

Print media has reached an historic but critical evolutionary point. Print businesses are severely pressured. Declining subscription and advertising revenues are becoming the norm across the industry. The growth of user-generated content, citizen-journalism, blogs, Twitter and the real-time web have all been responsible for forcing changes on the industry. While print media is under sustained attack from the web, some of the most popular web-based news sites only make a small fraction of their revenue from the web making any possible transition painful and complex.

• Can print media cross the Rubicon that it has now reached? How?
• Will Rupert Murdoch’s recent announcement that News International will charge for web content come to be viewed as a turning point or a Canutian gesture?
• How can the print media industry lever core strengths to build a sustainable and profitable future?

BLN discussion dinners draw key participants in business ecosystems – incumbents, investors and growing entrepreneurial enterprises – together to meet and discuss important and pressing issues about the future of their industry.

Confirmed attendees from the publishing world include CEO/MD/CxO level from Associated Newspapers, Bauer Publishing, Magicalia, Newsquest, Telegraph Media Group and UBM as well as some of the emerging entrepreneurial companies in the sector.

BLN events are framed by industry analysts but draw on the experiences and knowledge of participants to help understand the strategies they need to consider in planning for the future. They are designed to be thought-provoking, participatory, relevant and enjoyable.

If you believe that the print media has a secure and stable future in which no action is required to maintain sustainable and profitable businesses, there will be little of interest for you in this discussion. If you wish to understand some of the challenges and opportunities in a fast-evolving industry, and some of the strategies for future growth, we hope you may be able to participate.

We are delighted to be partnering with BDO Stoy Hayward, Merrill Lynch and Farrer & Co on this important discussion.

If you would like an invitation to participate, please contact us directly at: info@TheBLN.com

BDO Stoy Hayward

Farrer & Co

Merrill Lynch