Göteborg, Sweden - The pressure on revenue sources in increasing, which means newspapers need to be the strongest brands in their markets, Christian Van Thillo, CEO of De Persgroep in Belgium told the 61st annual World Newspaper Congress in Göteborg, Sweden, on Tuesday.

Newspaper companies must build new revenue streams while also maximising existing ones, build a centralised Internet division, prepare a new sales approach for a new advertising market and find the best talent for the company, with one corporate culture, he said.

De Persgroep, which owns newspapers, magazines, TV, radio and electronic media, made it the company's mission to be the strongest brand in each market. To do so, it consolidated its sales houses into one, and integrated newspaper supplements with the magazine portfolio, as well as other operations, he said. The newspaper's editorial job is done independently, but everything else has been consolidated to make things easier, cheaper and to run more smoothly, Van Thillo said.

But newspapers shouldn't lose sight of their mission, and the reason they exist in the first place, Van Thillo said. “The heart of a media company lies in its creative capabilities,” and control must be maintained over that most important part, he said, quipping that “the Internet is great – everything is virtual except for the losses.”

Tomas Brunegard, CEO of the Stampen Group in Sweden said that the industry seems to have been “very much inside-out – we've been very production oriented.”

Newspapers must put themselves in a winning mindset and manage relationships while creating new partnerships. Three trends he said he believes will affect the market in the long-run include globalisation, user participation and a change in media consumption, and how relationships are managed in the future will be exceedingly important.

“It's time to step out into the market, and look back at ourselves to see what we need to change,” he said.