How porn saved the German newspaper industry

Business week has concluded that porn might be the answer to the woes of the newspaper industry.(Hat Tip-Steve Borris)

At least that is judging by the example from Germany where

Bild, a Berlin daily with 12 million readers, that might not fly in the U.S. (the photos of nude women on page 1, for example).

and compares them to the rest of the market

It's not as if Bild hasn't been hit by the same problems as U.S. papers, including advertisers lost to the Web. So it's tempting to credit Bild's double-digit profit margin solely to sensationalism

But in all seriousness the article finds that the industry in Germany is thriving because it was forced to deal with a slump in advertising long before it affected other countries.

It forced German papers to take a hard look at their businesses before the Web started to hurt big time. Staunchly gray Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung risked alienating readers by printing color photos on the front page and launched a sassy Sunday edition. The measures helped stop a slide in readership. Die Welt created a tabloid edition that helped lure younger readers. And the papers dared to raise prices. Even Bild, aimed at a working-class audience, in July boosted its newsstand price by 20%, to about 90 cents in most markets. The hikes, along with digital revenue, helped offset the loss in ads