S K Khurana
|
A
fter manageably sustaining widespread recession impact, the Indian newspaper publishing industry has invigoratingly entered the New Year bringing markedly different media environs tending multimedia businesses. During economic tough time, all potential models to generate revenues were tried, providing adequate experiences to boost operations in apparently changing scenario.
With fast growing internet penetration, trend of joint ventures and outsourcing for prepress and press operations - implicatively earmarking structural change, the newspaper publishing houses have been procuring such sophisticated technologies which can be proved quite competent with emerging requirements. Now alongwith hardware, software and syndication solutions are under the prime focus, being offered by various companies like NewspaperDirect, Digital Technology International, Sol90, Financial Times Syndication, 4Cplus, Frontdesk Publishing, NI Syndication, Ninestars, The New York Times Syndicate, Pressmart, Project Syndicate, etc. Electronic gadgets such as Amazon’s Kindle, Apple’s iPad, Sony e-reader, IREX digital reader apart from PCs, Macs, smartphones, iPhones, iPod Touch and BlackBerry devices, Interead’s COOL-ER are poised to change the whole phenomenon. Providing additional channel of news dissemination, e-readers have immense potential for Indian newspapers to reach out overseas readers at quite good subscription prices.
As several newspapers across the world like The Guardian, International Herald Tribune, Daily Mail, The Washington Post, USA Today, Toronto Star, National Post, Irish Independent, L’Equipe, Il Giornale, Iltalehti, Bangkok Post, Kommersant, The Malaysian Reserve and De Volkskrant have already started taking advantage of e-devices for dispersing their content, Hindustan Times has become the first Indian newspaper available on Kindle at good monthly subscription. Obviously, the sources of revenues are diffusing from the conventional ones.
These sorts of developments are also poising new challenges before the industry. Newspapers are now being considered as commodities requiring equal importance given to marketing activities, strategies as well as business models and habits of audience.
At this point of time, measuredly pondering over the evolving needs of the industry when venturing into the fifth fabulous year of ALL ABOUT NEWSPAPERS (AAN), we strive to change the frequency of AAN from ‘quarterly’ to ‘bi-monthly’ now onwards, so as to serve you more effectively in staying abreast more frequently. Being rather close to you with also New Look, we wish you a flourishing business marvelously in this ‘new year of hopes’!
