Digital Media India 2015 forecasts
digital growth alongside print
It is evident that there are countries like India where printed newspapers
continue to grow, but the era of digital is also at hand. That was the message
from the just concluded Digital Media India 2015 at New Delhi.
Organised by WAN-IFRA, the South
Asian edition of the Digital Media
India in New Delhi dug up the
future trends and roles of digital news
media in the very near future. “Though
print circulations of leading newspapers
continue to increase in India and in many
developing countries, publishers have no
choice but to increase their digital presence,”
said Raghav Bahl, founder, Network 18. He
added that it should take about five years
for English newspapers to capitulate before
a full scale digital assault, while it could
take a decade before other Indian language
newspapers have to face the same reality.
In the new order, according to Raghav,
news publishing cannot continue to be
linear, but has to be conversational. This
was the same remark echoed by numerous
speakers during the two-day conference,
which attracted participants from 10
countries. The conference was dedicated to
discussions on content creation, delivery of
news, revenue models and understanding
and using audience data.
Mobile media penetration
Digital Media India 2015 offered strategies
and best practices that reflected the rapid
growth of digital penetration in the country
and elsewhere in Asia, especially with mobile.
Publishers were encouraged to increase their
mobile presence quickly. Kalle Jungkvist,
senior advisor to Schibsted Media Group
in Sweden, said that mobile is the perfect
medium for offering premium content.
Think shareability and audience at the
outset of the story; Use chat apps to offer
tailored content; Sub-segment audience and
service relevant content; Offer different
revenue strategies for different advertisers;
Embrace programmatic advertising for sale
of banner ads, and a direct relationship with
advertisers for sale of premium inventory were
some of the takeaways from the conference.
Discussion on ad partnership
The conference was concluded with a
panel discussion on ‘Should Publishers
be Selective in Choosing Their Digital
Advertising Partners?’ led by Ben Shaw,
director of global advisory of WANIFRA.
The panelists proclaimed they
would aim for more direct relationships
with advertisers, but ad exchanges are
a reality and they use them for selling
some of their common ad inventory.
They also called for news publishers
to come together and build their own
ad exchange.
The conference
was sponsored by
4CPlus, CCI Europe,
PPI Media, Proteck
and Wood wing.
WAN-IFRA News
Publishing Focus
and Asian Newspaper
Focus were the
official publications
of the conference.
The supporting
publications of
the event were All
About Newspapers,
GXPress, Indian
Printer & Publisher
and RIND Survey.
WAN IFRA’s Digital
Media conferences
have become a
referent in the digital
publishing industry,
with more than 1,200
delegates from around the globe attending
the Digital Media Europe (DME), Digital
Media Asia (DMA), Digital Media India
(DMI) and Digital Media Latinoamérica
(DML) editions last year. This DM network
of events makes it one of the most relevant
international business platforms dedicated
to the transformation of the news media
industry. Next edition of the conference
(Digital Media Europe) will be organised
from April 20-22, 2015 in London.