The impact of web traffic on revenues of traditional newspaper publishers Foreword The news industry has undergone unprecedented transformation over the last two decades. The Internet has accelerated the pace at which news is created and accessed by readers. At the same time, print circulation has been declining, which has put pressure on publishers to innovate both online and offline. In the current market where a growing amount of news is accessed online, it is critical to understand the interaction between newspaper publishers’ websites, online news aggregators, social networks, and search engines. However, the impact of web traffic on publishers has not been investigated to any significant degree, even though publishers’ advertising-funded business models rely directly on it. This study addresses this gap for the first time by analysing a number of key factors that drive newspaper publishers’ revenue in the digital age. These include total web traffic, which is defined as the traffic driven to news sites directly through a publisher webpage (“direct traffic”) and traffic driven by third party sources which include news aggregators, search engines, social networks and blogs (“referral traffic”). This study estimates the impact that this total web traffic has on publishers’ revenues, and furthermore it assesses the impact that referral traffic alone has on their revenues. The diversity of publishing companies, business models, and readers makes the estimation of revenue drivers challenging. This study estimates these complex relationships using robust econometric approaches with rigour comparable to academic studies. The econometric analysis is based on a sample of 66 newspaper publishers with both online and offline publications across France, Germany, Spain, and the UK, and covers the period between 2011 and 2013. Based on the results of the econometric modelling, the study estimates that a 10% increase in overall web traffic (direct as well as referral traffic) to newspaper publishers’ sites leads to an estimated 0.64% increase in their overall revenues. A 10% increase in referral traffic alone leads to an estimated 0.42% increase in total revenues. These findings are consistent with the existing level of offline and online revenues for publishers. It also finds that the average value of a web visit ranges between €0.04 and €0.08, which provides a valuable reference point for the industry. In conclusion, the value that referral traffic creates for the newspaper publishing industry can be material within the pool of revenue generated online by publishers and can help publishers increase their revenues. Professor Marc Cowling, PhD. Director of Research, Brighton Business School University of Brighton Deloitte LLP. 1