by: Erik Kirschbaum | Reuters

(Reuters) - Germany's largest newspaper publisher will introduce a paywall for its flagship national daily Die Welt by the end of this year and is confident competitors will follow suit, Axel Springer Chief Executive Mathias Doepfner said.

In an interview with Reuters, Doepfner said he believes the ruinous "free beer for everyone" era of giving content away on the internet may be ending, as paying users are not only proving more valuable for publishers, but crucially for advertisers too.