Yesterday, when pondering whether newspapers might eventually use free Kindles to rid themselves of print costs, I was reminded that advertising revenue is one of the major issues tying newspapers down to the print format. Which is why I found it interesting when I noticed a Reuters report that the Financial Times expects its online content sales revenues to equal or exceed its print advertising revenues in 2012.

The Financial Times is known for its successful paywall strategy in which it allows readers eight free articles per month but requires they subscribe beyond that. It recently launched an HTML5 app for iOS devices and other tablets that allows it to interact directly with subscribers and bypass Apple’s 30% app store cut.

The news that its online revenues are set to overtake ad revenues suggests that the future of newspapers may not necessarily be so tightly bound to print after all.

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