Putting stories online before they appear in the newspaper actually helps print circulation by raising awareness and creating new readers, according to the UK-based Newsquest.

The 'web-first' strategy increased the Daily Telegraph's print edition market share by three percent in the year after the newspaper built up its web focus, said the paper's editor, Will Lewis, according to Press Gazette.

Five regional UK daily newspapers have ramped up sales, and three of those are Newsquest dailies, all of which started putting most news content onto their Web sites over the past year. All of Newsquest's dailies have implemented the web-first strategy, and since doing so, nine out of 14 of the company's evening papers have either increased sales or slowed the decline of sales in the past year.

Press Gazette also reported Newsquest's evening papers saw year-on-year declines of 2.2 percent, compared to the sector's average decline of 5.6 percent. The company's average circulation drop last year was 3.8 percent.

Other papers seeing positive effects of the web-first strategy include the Oxford Mail, with sales up 1.3 percent, and the Swindon Advertiser, up 2.4 percent. The strategy has also slowed declines for the Bolton News, from -7.2 percent in 2006 to -1.7 percent in the latest periods of 2007, and the Argus, from -6.6 last year to -0.8 in 2007, Press Gazette stated in an article.

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