There are two distinct approaches: the first repurposes web content for the iPad and is continually updated throughout the day; and the second is a bespoke iPad version of the newspaper that is published once a day.

The Financial Times app is almost certainly the best example of the former approach. It has reportedly generated more than £1million in revenue and 400,000 subscribers have signed up for the app which shares content with the paper and the web site.

The Telegraph is an example of the latter approach. It is delivered to iTunes for download in a daily edition at 5am each morning. It’s currently free in a deal sponsored by Audi but a paid-for version is expected any day.

iPad ‘newspapers’ are proving successful because they allow publisher to maintain the production values of the traditional product at the same time as creating an immersive environment in contrast to the web where you’re only ever a click away from someone else’s content.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the Brit that invented the web, recently criticised Apple for making iTunes a closed market. It’s a return to walled-garden created by ISPs in the 1990s, he said.

But for newspaper publishers in the UK the iPad is proving to be a way of innovating and generating much needed revenues.

Here’s Mark Sweney reporting for guardian.co.uk.

“Display advertising was up 15%, digital advertising up 46%, while classified decreased by 3%. Retail, the largest display category, grew by 19%. The company said that overall revenue from the division’s “pure play digital activities” rose by 16%.”

Don’t be surprised. The Mail Online is a very different product to its print counterpart. Have a look at the site. The content is celeb-driven SEO bait with the goal of driving clicks for advertisers.

Here’s Nick Clark’s analysis writing in the Independent.

“The public’s desire for the online coverage of stories from David Beckham’s wardrobe to Catherine Zeta-Jones’s dress disasters has seen advertisers flock to its site. The growth in online revenues is a welcome development for news services looking to make the internet pay, but some are questioning whether free sites can yet be self-sufficient.”

Its one online news model that is clearly working; the question is whether it’s repeatable.

The ABC Multi-Platform Report for May 2010 published today continues the sorry tale of the declining circulation of both daily and Sunday national newspapers in the UK.

Here’s a summary of the data.

Table: Circulation of daily UK newspapers

Table: Circulation of Sunday UK newspapers

The ABC Multi-Platform Report for May 2010 has MailOnline leading the pack with the largest online audience of 2.39 million. I’ve written before about the MailOnline’s pursuit of a Google-baiting-celeb agenda.

The Sun and The Times dropped out of the audit in May as News International readies itself to move to paid for access. Likewise FT.com isn’t included.

But where data is available traffic to all other newspaper sites grew month-on-month and year-on-year.

When are these numbers likely to peak? There’s no sign yet.

The decline in the fortunes of print has been widely reported. Consumer appetite is in decline and classified advertising has moved online to sites such as eBay and social networks such as Facebook.

The Economist reports that the response from publishers has been to cuts costs (staff and paper), raise prices and use syndicated content. Only a handful of papers have succeeded in persuading their readers to pay for online content.

The post recession prognosis calls for newspapers to “become more distinctive and customer focussed.” Success says The Economist relies on carving out niches. Survival depends on the broader issue of persuading young people to pay for news.

66% of people consider radio to be the most reliable and accurate source of media content, followed by 58% for online (editorial), 54% for TV and 34% for newspapers. Only three in ten internet users trust web content.

It’s very easy to get enthusiastic about the potential of social media especially if you are embedded within the industry. But you’re not necessarily your target audience.

Change is undoubtedly taking place in the way people consume media and brands communicate with their audiences and there’s no doubt that the future lies in engagement.

But do not underestimate the influence of mainstream editorial media as a means of generating influence.

Speed’s view – for now – is that no media whether broadcast, print, online or social, can work in isolation.

Remember the sunset shot that I took of the Cheviots in Northumberland a couple of weeks ago? Probably not but stick with me.

I posted the image to the Your Place Northumberland Flickr group that’s curated by the hyperlocal team at the Newcastle Journal. It made the Your Place hyperlocal web site. And now the Northumberland Journal Extra local newspaper.

I think that its an important step because it shows traditional media engaging with its audience and sourcing content via a social network.

“The trial was initially planned to take place over a three-month period, starting at the end of November, but was extended by one month to ensure sufficient data was collected.”

“It was the first phase of an ongoing review of how Johnston Press should manage its news provision online.”

Steve met-up with former Birmingham Mail (Trinity Mirror) editor Steve Dyson last week. He concluded that regional publishers are failing to engage readers online and that “[...] done right, the internet offers opportunities for regional publishers to address some of the weaknesses in their business models that have been building for years (e.g. ad sales sliding yet people prepared to pay for pictures that feature their kids or interest groups).”

We’re out and about speaking on this issue in the coming weeks at CIPR, PIRA, Strategic Social Media and Social Media in Business events.

Here’s a round-up of posts from the past month.

1. Regional online media’s content conundrum
2. How do you make money from online news content?
3. NLA web licensing won’t make a dent in online losses for newspaper industry
4. Is the Daily Mail the UK’s most successful online newspaper?
5. Online newspaper circulation figures: ABC Multi-Platform Monthly Report – February 2010
6. BBC web site set to become content hub; iPlayer 3.0 to incorporate social features
7. Media industry urged to stop worrying about Murdoch
8. Newser and Wikipedia founders spotlight start-up media business opportunities
9. Newser founder Michael Wolff on the future of media – “smaller less profitable news organisations”
10. Reputation Online on Times Online blocks
11. BBC Strategy Review: BBC 1 – commercial sector 0
12. Future of media according to Sorrell

But with Murdoch’s move to erect a paywall around Times Online from June we’ve now seen almost all of the broadsheet newspapers set out their stall for generating income from content online – and all are taking very different approaches.

Here’s a summary.

• Financial Times – micropayments
• The Times – £1 daily or £2 weekly paywall
• The Daily Telegraph – content, commerce and clubs
• The Guardian – advertising and applications
• The Independent – writing in PaidContent on Friday, Forrester’s Nick Thomas predicts that new owner Alexander Lebedev may repeat The Standard’s approach offer The Independent for free

As the Financial Times has demonstrated success requires a mix of business model and distinctive editorial – particularly when the BBC and others provide so much news content for free.

The attitude of broadsheet publishers to aggregators and search is less clear. The Times recently started blocking clipping agency Meltwater and aggregator NewsNow, but for now at least it is allowing Google in.

Google aggressively counters the claim that it is a parasite feeding off traditional media.

Speaking at the Financial Times Media & Broadcast Conference at the beginning of the March, Google UK’s managing director Matt Brittin said that the search engine was a virtual newsagent that sent four billion clicks a month to online news web sites.

So which model will work? There’s no way of telling. If I knew the answer I’d be seeking out an opportunity to invest behind one of these emerging business models.