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Douglas said “There’s no doubt that the model is getting harder. I think the next year is going to be very difficult, as it will be for print advertising of all kinds. Undoubtedly some of these brands will retreat from print.”

He added “There’s a reason why these businesses continue to print: they see it as a unique proposition for advertisers and readers. Once you become an online-only business your proposition [isn’t] the same.”

McCabe, in a warning to other newspapers, said that the demise of the freesheets, although unlikely, would have an impact on the health of the broader print industry. “If there is a worst-case scenario that freesheets disappeared, it would be unhelpful for paid-for newspapers”, he said. “The news industry is an advertising category; softness in the free sheets makes the industry as a whole less appealing.”

Ultimately, it could be a matter of viewing the football club as an intellectual property asset more akin to Gucci, Louis Vuitton or Star Wars, said François Godard, who covers media for research group Enders Analysis.

“If you start looking at football clubs how you look at fashion brands and Hollywood franchises, then you’re on to something. From that point of view, there’s potential. You’d think Man United could be much bigger eventually.”

“Disney faces the risk of a long decline in its linear TV cash-cow at a time when the direct-to-consumer ventures are at peak losses, which is quite uncomfortable,” said Francois Godard, a media analyst at Enders Analysis. “But I struggle to imagine a different approach than the one currently implemented.”

“We note that major advertisers’ interest in using the World Cup to promote their brands seems muted compared to previous tournaments,” Enders Analysis analysts Tom Harrington and Gill Hind wrote in a recent report. Asked about the topic by The Hollywood Reporter, Harrington said the “cost of negative association” for brands being linked with Qatar may be why many advertisers appear to be sitting this one out. 

Tom added that because ads are most expensive in Europe in the lead-up to Christmas, “aligning your product with this World Cup might not just be a risk to your brand, but one that costs a lot [as well].”