Some blunt thoughts from The Sun editor Rebekah Wade on Sun Online‘s contribution to the paper’s overall fortune. “We have a set of projections (for web growth) and sets of targets that we want to achieve, and so far we are achieving them,” she told the House of Lords communication committee‘s ongoing media ownership inquiry. “Long-term, I can’t be detailed and say this percentage will come from the internet but it will become significant in 14 to 15 years time. Right now, the newspaper makes the money.” (Journalism.co.uk and Reuters report).

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Sun Online got a record 11.6 million users in November (ABCe figs) and ranks bottom amongst the five online papers to submit audited figures. But the title boasts 22.2 million readers (unaudited) across platforms, while its online bingo game is amongst the biggest contributors to a fast-growing commercial revenue stream. But all this matters little as “growth was from a base of nil and revenue from the newspaper’s daily print sales of nearly three million remained most important economically”, Wade reportedly said, adding the strategy is to bring readers under 35 to the newspaper.

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