All About Newspapers

WAN-IFRA India 2014 takes a
closer look at world press trends

News publishers gathered at the recent WAN-IFRA India 2014 organised in New Delhi were told that finding sustainable business models for digital news media is important both for business and health of a democratic society. The two-day conference opened with a clarion call for the need of finding sustainable business models for digital news media. SK Khurana, editor, All About Newspapers reports how the conference developed a confluence for news publishers looking to find ways to increase their business in today’s fragmented media environment.

WAN-IFRA India 2014 in New Delhi sought to provide key lessons from around the globe and a direction for the future. More than 375 delegates from 20 countries attended the 22nd annual conference of WAN-IFRA. Welcome address from Magdoom Mohamad, managing director, WAN-IFRA South Asia was followed by opening remarks from K Balaji, chairman, WAN-IFRA South Asia Committee and director, Kasturi & Sons and keynote address from Vincent Peyregne, CEO, WAN-IFRA.

“Today, approximately 2.5 billion people around the world read newspapers in print and 800 million on digital platforms. Print and digital combined are increasing audiences for newspapers globally,” mentioned Vincent Peyregne. He further mentioned that while print and digital are increasing audiences for newspapers globally, the digital revenues are not keeping pace. “Finding sustainable business models for digital news media is not only important for your business, but for the future health of debate in democratic society,” he adds.

Productive summits

Three parallel summits viz. i) Newsroom Summit for editors and newsroom managers, ii) Printing Summit for newspaper production managers and iii) Crossmedia Advertising Summit for advertising managers and business development executives mainly composed the two-day conference. Earlier during the inaugural session, WAN-IFRA’s latest special report Newsprint Waste Management, authored by K Balaji, chairman of WAN-IFRA South Asia Committee and director of Kasturi & Sons, the publishers of the daily The Hindu, was formally presented. The report was released by Jacob Mathew, immediate past president of WAN-IFRA and received by DD Purkayastha, chairman of WAN-IFRA Advisory Council and CEO & MD of ABP Pvt Ltd.

Keynote speakers

The fruitful summits at WAN-IFRA 2014 were full blown with thoughtful speeches from the eminent industry leaders, namely, TN Ninan, chairman, Business Standard Ltd and board member of WAN-IFRA World Editors Forum; Rob Rose, investigative journalist with Sunday Times in South Africa; Mariam Mammen Mathew, COO, Manorama Online; Andrew Holden, editor-in-chief, The Age, Australia; R Sukumar, editor, Mint; Sunil Patil, senior manager and Amit Gupta, deputy chief manager of Bennett, Coleman & Co; Rahul Kansal, executive president, Bennett, Coleman & Co; Shantanu Bhanja, VP-marketing for HT Media; Florian Nehm, head of corporate sustainability and EU Affairs, Axel Springer, Germany; and Kartik Taneja, head, channel sales, Google India, among many others.

The conference also included panel discussions on ‘Are Young Readers Moving Away from News? How to Engage the Young Readers to Secure the Future of News Media?’, led by Raj Chengappa, editor-in-chief of The Tribune along with Jacob Mathew, executive editor, Malayala Manorama; Sanjay Gupta, editor-in-chief and CEO, Jagran Prakashan; and Serene Goh, editor - schools, for The Strait Times, Singapore.

Newsroom Summit

Under the theme ‘The Story Telling Revolution’, TN Ninan, chairman, Business Standard Ltd, India and board member, World Editors Forum in his opening note in this session talked about the blurring line between business and editorial. He signified where to draw the Lakshman Rekha. In the followed up session on digital storytelling, Kevin Anderson, editor, Gannett Media, USA addressed the importance of focusing on the reader’s medium. And investigative journalist Rob Rose from Sunday Times, South Africa revealed some facts about investigative journalism coming under risk worldwide.

Other persuasive discussions during the summit included the phenomenal digital transformation of Malayala Manorama. Mariam Mammen Mathew, COO, Manorama Online, India explained how did they gear up to face the digital revolution.

Drawing the experiences from HT-Mint, Sukumar, editor, LIVE-Mint narrated about integrated newsroom and web-first approach. Second day of the summit witnessed a string of sessions on varied topics including ‘Can a newspaper preserve a nation’s future?’ Dainik Jagran reaches nearly one million students to educate them to become future of tomorrow. This was a case study presented by Basant Rathore, head of brand and strategy, Jagran Prakashan. In addition, The Telegraph’s Tiger Reporter Programme, in which student reporters from 82 schools learn how to do news then produced most of the content for the 16-page publication, was what it related to this session in the summit by Anupam Aashish, manager, Y-Vertical, ABP.

A panel discussion among editors/CEOs from South Asia on the topic ‘Who are our future readers?’ was very much an eyeopening part of the session. Sanjay Gupta, editor-in-chief & CEO, Jagran Prakashan, India; Jacob Mathew, executive editor, Malayala Manorama, India; and Serene Goh, editor-schools, The Straits Times, Singapore were the respective panelists at the discussion session in which panel chair Raj Chenppa, editor-in-chief, The Tribune analysed whether the reading habit is vanishing among the younger generation. The discussion stressed on the engagement of readers to secure the future of news media.

Printing Summit

In a session titled ‘Achieving and Sustaining Operational Excellence’, K Balaji, director, Kasturi & Sons and chairman, WAN-IFRA South Asia Committee presented WANIFRA’s new special report on energy management. The energy consumption in printing plants has reduced due to the onset of the latest press technologies. However, there are still untapped areas. Sunil Patil, senior manager and Amit Gupta, deputy chief manager, Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd stressed on this topic, followed by Snehasis Roy, AVP - manufacturing, ABP on the same. While achieving and sustaining operational excellence, what can we learn from a manufacturing company? Vijay Apte, GM - application engineering, SKF India explained the objectives to invest rightly to achieve production. Perspectives from Malayala Manorama, which invested in five double width presses, PK Philip, chief GM, Malayala Manorama, elaborated the prospects on sustainable operations.

Second day of the summit revolved around printing plant and their environmental effects. In this context, Srinivasan, research engineer, WAN-IFRA India explained the association’s green project aiming at reduced environment impact and saving cost at printing plant. In the similar tone, SS Kulkarni, GM-technical, Micro Inks narrated the importance of ecofriendly materials presenting the company’s case study reports.

Crossmedia Advertising Summit

‘Fresh Strategies for Turbulent Times’ was the opening topic at this concluding summit at the two-day conference. Talking about the brand building strategies of The Times of India, Rahul Kansal, executive president, Bennett, Coleman and Co explained what it took to build the brand and considering the increasing news consumption in multiple media, what are the strategies to keep readers and advertisers loyal to the brand. The discussion continued with strategies in the cut throat competition and means of alliances between newspapers. Shantanu Bhanja, VP - marketing, HT Media shared the discussion on the prospects of newspapers joining together to offer advertising to clients at a single point of contact.

Setting a spotlight on the ongoing digital trends that have been shaping the Indian online space, mass penetration of internet, news consumption in digital devices, programmatic advertising were the key points which Kedar Gavane, director, ComScore Inc talked in length during the session. What was discussed on the second day of the summit was about ‘Multiple Platforms; Multiple Opportunities.’ This session drew attention of the attendees to the power of relevance in digital advertising with relevant instances from the world’s largest travel site Tripadvisor. What can newspapers learn? Nikhil Ganju, country head, Tripadvisor discussed about the fundamentals whether it could generate much needed revenue from digital.

‘Social media’ was just another point of discussion at the concluding part of the summit. Shekhar Sharma, national director, GroupM Interaction explained how new advertising opportunities have been dwelled in social media circuit. Further, brand promotion through social events was another aspect discussed expansively in this session. AJ Christopher, national head - marketing, Eenadu referred the newspaper’s seventh edition of Eenadu Cricket Tournament that saw more than 1500 teams turned up. He remarked that the strategy behind such events was for brand promotion.

Common closing session of the summit highlighted some common topics like Drone Journalism, which news media are looking ahead to the full utilisation of this new remote reporting technology. Benchmarking for Indian newspapers, DD Purkayashtha, MD & CEO, ABP and chairman, WANIFRA Advisory Council revealed the report on WAN-IFRA’s first-of-its-kind project for efficiency improvement in newspapers.

Big presence

Offered on the sidelines of the conference were opportunities to meet the leading suppliers of the news publishing industry, who were participating in the info-table exhibition. Some of those exhibitors putting up an innovative range of machines and technologies included Graf Impex and which showcased its breakthrough technologies in colour registration, cut-off control, news monitoring system, online glue, aroma and spray dampening.

Poddar Global, one of the leading importers and distributors of newsprint and paper in the Indian newspaper market, equally attracted visitors. Swedish company Tolerans, known for advanced in-line stitching systems for newspapers and commercial prints, revealed its stitching technologies for compact newspaper formats.

Stand of Newstech India was set to be a one-stop destination for its state-of-the-art equipments for pre-press, press and post-press operations as well as compatible consumables including plates, chemicals and blankets for newspaper production. Globally acclaimed Indian web offset press manufacturer The Printers House (tph) showcased know-how of its Orient range of machines.

As sponsors, big machine and technology manufactures like manroland web systems, Fujifilm, Goss International, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, TechNova and Micro Inks (Huber Group) made their presence in the conference. Showcased from manroland web systems were the company’s economic solutions in newspaper and commercial web offset printing, which visitors could select a versatile and innovative array of products and services portfolio.

Goss International pulled attention of attendees around to its ‘unique capabilities’ of Magnum Compact at its stand. Other participants included Splice Solutions, Comyan and ppi Media. WAN-IFRA India 2015 Conference & Expo will be held from September 02-04 at BEC, Mumbai.