Maurice Lèvy, chairman and chief executive at global advertising giant Publicis Groupe, described the financial crisis as "a cruel and brutal accelerator and amplifier of long-term trends".

"Let’s face it, the traditional model is broken," he added.

Lèvy spoke of despair, doom and demise among publishers, yet still predicted a bright future for some print titles – but only for some. "I beg you to refuse to call your magazines ‘traditional’ media," he said, preferring instead the term "analogue".

At the same time he questioned whether the younger generation of so-called "digital natives" would go back to using print.

Research from Publicis-owned ZenithOptimedia predicts that newspapers and magazines will continue to lose adspend share into 2011. "You have not seen anything yet in the digital revolution. It’s clear the shift of ad dollars to digital media will go on in the coming years." Lèvy added.

Earlier at the opening session of the conference, printed magazines were praised for their "wonderful features and ability to connect with the target reader" by William Kerr, chairman at US media group Meredith, who quipped: "We’ll be destroying trees for a long time."

Guardian Media Group chief executive Carolyn McCall said: "There will always be an audience that wants print. Magazines give you private space and the web doesn’t substitute the experience of reading a magazine."