Margaret Strayton, editorial manager of Newsquest, and Will Lewis, editor of the Daily Telegraph, both believe that web-first publishing has helped to sell their print editions.

Three of the five regional papers in the UK to have increased their sales were Newsquest dailies. Since Newsquest introduced web-first guidelines in most of its papers, nine out of 14 of its evening papers have either improved their sales or slowed the decline in sales.

"It was our intention to grow sales with our web-first strategy, and it is fair to say that our websites are actually helping,” said Strayton.

"We have found we have had some huge successes with reverse publishing, particularly when there have been tragic incidences where people have been killed in car crashes or there has been a murder. We have opened up a tribute site on the website and then reverse published into papers.

"Now, for the first time in a long time, we are getting young people who are not traditional newspaper readers. They have seen something on the web and like to pick up the paper to confirm what they have seen."

Although Newsquest clearly sees its web-first policy as drawing print readers, it mostly seems like circumstantial evidence. But web-first publishing certainly reinforces a news organization’s brand, rather than cannibalize print, as was once feared.

Source: Press Gazette through IFRA Executive News Service