A new report has observed that by not employing a cost-per-click (CPC) advertising model, British newspapers are failing to make millions of pounds in revenue. Accountancy giant Ernst & Young has published its astounding findings as part of a new research, suggesting that newspapers could increase their revenues manifold by adopting a few sales tactics employed by top online search engines.

The research noticed most online newspapers follow the cost-per-thousand-impressions model. However, had they resorted to a CPC or cost-per-click strategy, each newspaper web site could easily have made anything between £120 million & £250 million during 2007 (assuming they would generate the same revenue per unique user as Google).

The media and entertainment analyst at the firm, Luca Mastrodonato, revealed the top newspaper sites were earning between 10 and 13 pence per unique visitor per month whereas Google would generate £2.40. Moreover, since several users happen to spend considerable time on social networks, ‘by circulating millions of untargeted adverts publishers may well be missing out on opportunities for increasing their ad revenue to the advantage of online specialists’, the spokesperson pointed out.