Analyst: Decades before online sustains newspapers

It could take as long as 30 years for online revenue to represent at least half of a newspaper’s total revenues, according to a new report issued by Merrill Lynch analyst Lauren Rich Fine. She estimated double-digit growth for online ad revenues through 2012, then slowing to 5 percent, with print revenues declining 1.5 percent annually. Of course, this calculation assumes a lot of things, not the least is the fact that the most successful newspapers will be creating new digital businesses with new revenue streams. But again, it underlines the need to break out of the repurposing mold.