The group that represents the Irish newspaper industry, the National Newspapers of Ireland (NNI), is rebranding as NewsBrands Ireland. The organisation said the change was designed to reflected increasing demand for online news content and that many of the publishers who belong to the group give their print and online products equal prominence.

"We live in a changing world and it was time that our identity reflected the new reality of newspaper publishing and news delivery," NewsBrands Ireland chairman Vincent Crowley said at an event to mark the relaunch in Dublin. "We are no longer newspaper publishers in the traditional sense but owners of news media brands, both print and online."

A review of how the industry measures readership, currently conducted through the JNRS survey, is underway, said the organisation’s co-ordinating director Dara McMahon. She joined the NNI from Ulster Bank last year and is overseeing its relaunch.

Mr Crowley, a former Independent News & Media chief executive, said that for a lot of people, “newspaper” still meant a printed title. “But . . . for a new generation of readers we exist mainly in the digital sphere.”