Publish Asia 2011 captivates the best
practices for newspapers in 'vibrant Asia'
India shines receiving 12 Asia Media Awards including seven golds
With 504 participants from 35 countries, including publishers, chief editors and other newspaper executives, the annual Publish Asia 2011 concluded in Bangkok. During three exciting days (April 27-29, 2011) of learning and networking, the CEO conference, Advertising summit, Newsroom Summit and Printing Summit provided participants with ideas, concepts and best practices for delivering sustainable media growth in today’s fast changing media landscape, through expert presentations and case studies. The key issues discussed at this forum included: innovations, global trends, pay walls, print advertising, tablet publishing, newsprint prices, etc. One of the highlights of the event was the Asia Media Awards evening, where India shined receiving as much as 12 awards including seven golds. SM Dutt from All About Newspapers briefs.
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In an opening address to more than 500 publishers, chief editors and other newspaper executives attending the Publish Asia 2011 conference in Bangkok, Ong-Art Klampaiboon, minister attached to the Prime Minister’s Office in Thailand, who believes the role of newspapers is more important than ever, stated, “The freedom and ease with which citizens of each country can keep in contact with one another, transmit news as they see it, express as well as shape views and opinions, is indeed a powerful phenomenon. But at the same time, these informational tools can also be abused— such as when unverified information is spread rapidly in cyber-space and the blogosphere. This makes the role of newspapers as a source of fair, balanced, verifiable information and analysis even more important.” “When social media became all the rage, there was talk of the eventual decline – even demise – of newspapers, given the drop in circulation and advertising in many countries. But here in Asia, it appears you are holding your own. Not just holding, but also prospering. However, there is no room for complacency. Newspapers of this region must rise up to the challenge and embrace the changes. You all play a key role in shaping progress in your respective countries in this ever-changing environment,” he conveyed.
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Four experts from WAN-IFRA presented a quick overview of the topics that were discussed in the Publish Asia conference. Presenting a snapshot of the Asian newspaper market, Christoph Riess, CEO of WAN-IFRA, said, “Asia is vibrant. It’s the area where you can see investments are made, it’s a powerhouse of the world newspaper industry.” Seventy-nine of the world’s 100 largest newspapers are published in Asia. Two out of three copies sold worldwide each day are sold in Asia, he added.
India shines at Asia Media Awards
On the sidelines of Publish Asia 2011, the 10th annual Asia Media Awards were presented to nearly 50 companies, publications and individuals in a gala ceremony in Bangkok by WAN-IFRA on 28 April.
From India, nine companies including Hindustan Media Venture Ltd; DB Corp Ltd; Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd; ABP Pvt Ltd; HT Media Ltd; Business Media Pvt Ltd; Jagran Prakashan Ltd; Financial Times Ltd; and Malayala Manorama Company Ltd (The Week) were among the winners, who won 12 awards including seven golds. The Financial Times was conferred two gold awards in different categories.
These awards have become the most prestigious recognition of outstanding work in the fields of printing quality, design, infographics and photography among media houses in Asia Pacific, South Asia and Middle East. The ceremony was attended by Thai prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and more than 500 publishing executives from 35 countries joining WAN-IFRA’s Publish Asia conference.
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Manfred Werfel, deputy CEO and executive director of newspaper production, WAN-IFRA (Germany), outlined three trends in production: cost reduction, automation and new business models. Cost reduction means lean production and outsourcing. Automation means automated plate change and closed loop colour control. And new business models include a trend toward commercial printing. “Newspaper printers don’t want to be limited to just newspaper printing only. They want to do commercial printing and transfer the production into a profit center as well,” he said.
Dietmar Schantin, executive director of publishing, editorial and general management, WAN-IFRA (Germany) provided a quick look at some figures that shows how public perception about media usage differs greatly from the facts. He pointed out that 37 percent of the world’s population reads a newspaper daily – more than the 25 percent who have access to the internet. By contrast, 69 percent of the world’s population owns a mobile phone, representing a huge opportunity for news distribution. But it remains ‘potential’ – 72 percent have never used a mobile application. “The whole differentiation of whether it is print or digital isn’t valid anymore – the whole concept now is, ‘is it paid or free?”
“When it comes to digital media, it’s important to cut through the rhetoric and concentrate on core values,” said Stig Nordqvist, excutive director of digital and new business development, WAN-IFRA (Germany). “Don’t talk about the channel. You need to be thinking about how they’re being used, and it needs to be useful and fun – we tend to forget that. Also, we talk about charts and numbers for the mobile devices, but we forget the value of what we’re doing in the digital space,” he said, emphasizing, “The new boss is the consumer. He’s in charge of everything.”
Editors meet with
Thai PM Abhisit Vejjajiva
Editors from across Asia met with Thai prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. The meeting with about 30 editors was organised by the Asian Editors Forum and WAN-IFRA, which includes the World Editors Forum, on the sidelines of the Publish Asia conference held in Bangkok. Abhisit Vejjajiva took this opportunity to explain the Thailand’s stand to the whole world through Asian editors, having hope for peace and calm in respect of continuing issues with Cambodia. The same statement of the PM was primarily published alongwith his photograph at Publish Asia, on the front page of Bangkok Post.
Later, speaking at the WAN-IFRA Asia Media Awards dinner, the prime minister spoke of the importance of a free and independent press to democracy. “Upholding media freedom upholds our commitment to democracy in Thailand,” he said.
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Speaking on why print will dominate in the near future, Eamonn Byrne, managing director of The Byrne Partnership (UK) stated that it is important to differentiate between fashion and trends. Fashion is fun, but trends are backed by hard data – and the data shows that print will continue to produce the majority of newspaper company revenues in the near-future, and that newspapers are best placed to offer multi-media advertising solutions.
“If we mention the certain circles that print is the most important long-term media prospect, they call the ambulance,” he admitted. But the facts support his contention: 6.7 billion people, or 37 percent of the world’s population, read a newspaper daily, 25 percent more newspaper readers than internet users globally. “There is more advertising money spent on print than digital. That will change, but there is still massive amounts spent on print. One can’t ignore the internet, but the internet isn’t the only thing that is going on,” said Eamonn. In the longer-term future, newspaper companies are well placed to benefit from multimedia expansion, because they have print at their hearts, something other media cannot provide, he stated, adding, “You have access to print, digital, mobile, posters, broadcast on your websites, and you can offer a range of multimedia solutions. And, at the core, you have a medium that’s been around for 300 years, reaches 37 percent of the planet, is proven to work, and proven to work better than many of the advertising solutions offered by other media right now.”
‘Demographics are in our favour’
While newspaper circulation in much of the world declines, it continues to grow in India. And the prospect for future growth is excellent, said Ravi Dhariwal, CEO of Bennet, Coleman & Co Ltd, the publisher of The Times of India.
“India’s population continues to grow, as does its literacy rate, so future readership is also likely to increase,” he said. Advertising growth also has great potential. For The Times of India, it’s all about brand. “The 173-year old paper tries to capture our country on a particular day and the people’s aspirations,” he said, “We don’t consider the prime minister or the president as the leaders of India, we treat the reader as the CEO.” In a wide-ranging keynote address that presented a case study of the Times’ success, Dhariwal pointed to some of the elements that characterize The Times of India brand.
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Making a presentation on ‘bridging the media development capitalisation gap’, Mirjana Milosevic, programme director for social investment in media for WAN-IFRA (France), stated, “In developed markets, as much as 70 percent of funds invested in media companies is borrowed. But, when you come from emerging and developing markets, you can’t even dream of having those kinds of loan to expand your business.” “In last 10 to 15 years, the concept of social investments has emerged. There are more and more investors who invest with low rates of return,” she said pointing to the Media Development Loan Fund, which makes loans to independent news companies around the world, with reasonable rates, and it has invested more than 100 million dollars
in 30 media companies around
the world.”
“Among trends in the media industry, one of the most promising is the increasing readiness of consumers to pay for content,” said Marcel Fenez, a global entertainment and media leader for PriceWaterhouseCoopers, in a presentation of many of those trends. “They are giving us hints about what they want to pay for. They’re telling us three things – I will pay for convenience, I will obviously pay for quality, because one of the things we know about free content is that very often the quality is not very high, and they’re also telling us they’ll pay for a higher quality experience,” said Fenez.
“By 2020, the media industry will be transformed by mobile devices and tablets,” said Gregor Waller, a newspaper consultant and former member of the management board and vice president for strategy and innovation at Axel Springer’s Welt Group in Germany. Axel Springer, which increased its digital revenues from two percent of total revenues in 2004 to 24 percent today, and has a goal of 50 percent, has developed a strategy based on what it sees
as ‘megatrends’ in the industry, and how it will look at the end of the decade.
Larry Kilman, deputy CEO and executive director, communications & public affairs, WAN-IFRA talked about worldwide innovations in newspaper publishing. He conveyed that it is clear that digital revenues will never replace print revenues. That puts pressure on the newspaper business model but the problems are not insurmountable. “Digital provides around 10 percent of newspaper revenues, yet it seems that we spend all our time focusing on digital,” he said. From paid-content to tablets, from new advertising initiatives to print quality and even to retail sales, Kilman presented a wide variety of cases that illustrate how newspapers are finding new sources of revenue.
Not only the expert presentations but various case studies also made this Publish Asia event fruitful for all. Paul Hamra, publisher & managing director, Solstice Media, Australia presented case study on ‘From print weekly to daily online’, a successful business model conversion in the digital age. In a city dominated by News Corp media, Paul Hamra launched a weekly newspaper in 2004. The paper had an e-mail ‘pointer’ – a daily news digest. “And soon it was clear that more people were reading the daily than reading the weekly,” said Hamra, “We had the same readers online as in print. Our online readers were increasing, and our print readers were declining.” So the decision was made to switch from a weekly print edition to a free online daily only. “It was ‘tough love’ since we lost significant circulation revenue,” said Hamra, “But it was a decision that had to be made. We made the switch last year, and we’ve doubled the number of people who read the daily from those who read the weekly. And we took the advertisers on the journey with us.”
Pichai Chuensuksawadi, editor-in-chief, The Bangkok Post, and Anthony Arundell, director, Eastern Tech Service Co Ltd, Thailand talked about in their thought provoking presentations on ‘strategic outsourcing’. “IT itself just wasn’t supporting the business. It wasn’t supporting the advertising department so they could do their job. When there were problems in editorial, they were slow to respond, they had a wait-and-see attitude,” said Pichai Chuensuksawadi. As per Anthony Arundell, outsourcing isn’t a one-size-fits all proposition – every company has to manage its own needs. “Outsourcing is like a marriage – we go to bed together, we wake up together,” he said, adding, “It’s a long-term relationship, and there has to be trust in it.” Their presentations leave the message that the service level agreement is a critical driver of change – it has to be based on business objectives, not IT objectives. The process needs to be measured daily. The IT company must understand the news business – that it works on deadlines and must produce news very quickly.
Giving presentation on ‘growing audience online’, Julian Sambles, digital operations director of the Telegraph Media Group in the United Kingdom stated that the term ‘search engine optimization’ is a misnomer. “You don’t optimize to Google, you optimize to the customer,” he said, “Google is just the matchmaker. It’s a mechanism with which we can get our content found.”
“The iPad in North America has become a tremendous success and incredibly important to our company,” said Matt Jones, vice president for mobile and strategy operations for Gannet in the United States. Gannett’s USA Today iPad app has been downloaded 1.9 million times since it was launched in April 2010, with downloads running at 130,000 a month. The app is responsible for one-third of USA Today’s online traffic. USA Today decided to go the free route, making revenue from advertising alone. One key to success is to take maximum advantage of the device’s particular features, for readers and advertisers alike.
Jeongdo Hong, the chief strategy officer of the JoongAng Media Network in Korea, presented a ‘secret recipe’ for publishing success. “You need to do three things well – a good system, good competitive content, and a great staff,” he said in a
case study of the group’s multimedia strategy. That strategy involves
three different aspects: a format change, a new strategy for new devices, and the creation of a multimanagement system.
What they say?
“When social media became all the rage, there was talk of the eventual decline – even demise – of newspapers, given the drop in circulation and advertising in many countries. But here in
Asia, it appears you are holding your own. Not just holding,
but also prospering.”
–Ong-Art Klampaiboon, minister attached to the
Prime Minister’s Office in Thailand, who believes the
role of newspapers is more important than ever.
“Asia is vibrant. It’s the area where you can see investments are made, it’s a powerhouse of the world newspaper industry.”
–Christoph Riess, CEO of WAN-IFRA
“Among trends in the media industry, one of the most promising is the increasing readiness of consumers to pay for content.”
–Marcel Fenez, a global entertainment and media leader
for PricewaterhouseCoopers
“By 2020, the media industry will be transformed by mobile
devices and tablets.”
–Gregor Waller, a newspaper consultant and former member of
the management board and vice president for strategy
and innovation at Axel Springer’s Welt Group in Germany.
“Newspaper printers don’t want to be limited to just newspaper printing only. They want to do commercial printing and transfer the production into a profit center as well.”
–Manfred Werfel, deputy CEO and executive director of
newspaper production, WAN-IFRA, Germany
“Print will continue to produce the majority of newspaper company revenues in the near-term, and that newspapers are best placed to offer multi-media advertising solutions in the future.”
–Eamonn Byrne, managing director of
The Byrne Partnership (UK)
“The whole differentiation of whether it is print or digital isn’t valid anymore – the whole concept now is, ‘is it paid or free?”
–Dietmar Schantin, executive director of publishing,
editorial and general management, WAN-IFRA, Germany
“Outsourcing is like a marriage – we go to bed together, we wake up together. It’s a long-term relationship, and there has to be
trust in it.”
–Anthony Arundell, director,
Eastern Tech Service Co Ltd, Thailand
“Don’t talk about the channel. You need to be thinking about how they’re being used, and it needs to be useful and fun – we tend to forget that. The new boss is the consumer. He’s in charge of everything.”
–Stig Nordqvist, excutive director of
digital and new business development, WAN-IFRA, Germany
“In developed markets, as much as 70 percent of funds invested in media companies is borrowed. But, when you come from emerging and developing markets, you can’t even dream of having those kinds of loan to expand your business.”
–Mirjana Milosevic, programme director for
social investment in media for WAN-IFRA, France
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