Newspaper & Mailroom

Mobile and Emerging Platforms Are Focus of World Newspaper Congress

Thursday 13. March 2014 - Paid content and all access strategies have proven that readers will pay for digital access, but what do they get for their money? Publishers are going to need more sophisticated strategies to maintain digital growth.

That’s the idea behind a featured session on mobile and emerging platforms at the World Newspaper Congress, which will feature strategies and ideas from three continents to help publishers accelerate the development of their digital offerings.
Speakers in the session, entitled “Speed up your mobile and emerging platform strategy”, include John Paton, CEO of Digital First Media in the United States, Jean-Baptise Morin, CEO of Lagardère’s LS Distribution in France, Yoichi Nishimura, Board Director of Digital Business and International Affairs of The Asahi Shimbun in Japan, and Tore Stangebye, CEO of Berner Media Holding in Norway.
More than 1,200 publishers, chief editors, CEOs, managing directors and other senior newspaper and news publishing executives are expected to attend the Congress, World Editors Forum and World Advertising Forum, the global summit meetings of the world’s press to be held 9 to 11 June in Torino, Italy.
Other Congress sessions include:
– Innovation: From idea to impact, which will examine the many ways publishers can work with start-ups and will feature: Andrew Betts, Director of FT Labs in the United Kingdom; Amy Webb, Founder and CEO of Webbmedia Group in the United States; Eduardo Campos Pellanda, Director of Unilab in Brazil; and Thiago Medeiros, Product Manager and Researcher at Grupo RBS in Brazil.
– Alternative business models and disruptive revenues, which will examine new digital revenues, business models, and organisational and operational best practices for publishers. Speakers include Pietro Scott Jovane, CEO of RCS MediaGroup in Italy, Chris Lee, President of Deseret Digital Media in the United States, and other speakers to be announced.
– The Game Changers, which will look at newspaper companies that are embracing change and thriving in both print and digital. The session will include leading media analyst and author Ken Doctor, Eugen Russ, CEO of Russmedia in Austria, and other speakers to be announced.
– One size does not fit all, which will present strategies and tools for independent, mid-size news organisations and those under severe market pressure. The session will feature: George Nimeh, Chief Digital Officer of Kurier in Austria; Ernst-Jan Pfauth, Publisher of De Correspondent in The Netherlands; Tor Bøe-Lillegraven, a Denmark-based consultant and media analyst; and other speakers to be announced.
– Consolidation and “coopetition” (win together or lose it), which makes the case that the new media environment requires traditional news media to work together in the common interest to maintain their essential place at the heart of societal development. Speakers will include Carlo De Benedetti, Chairman of Editoriale L’Espresso in Italy, Raju Narisetti, Senior Vice President and Deputy Head of Strategy for News Corp., and other speakers to be announced.
– Why Video Matters: Get in the Game, which will examine the elements of multi-media strategy that incorporates video to build new audiences and revenues. Speakers include Amy Mitchell, Director of Journalism Research at the Pew Research Centre in the United States, Jérôme Grateau, Managing Director for Partner Business of Google France, and other speakers to be announced.
– Audience is first – where strategy meets data, which will examine the growth of advanced data analytics for media companies and will include case studies on how real-time customer data provide insights into behaviour and lead to new products and services that increase engagement and sales. The session will examine the need to build an internal business culture that makes use of the data to solve complex business problems, and review the data investments needed to support advertising sales, product development and marketing. Speakers to be announced.
– Innovations in Newspapers 2014, the annual session on the most interesting developments in the newspaper industry, by the Innovations International Media Consulting Group and presented by Innovations Partner Juan Señor.
– World Press Trends, the annual “State of the Industry” presentation, with a look at global and regional figures on trends in circulation, readership, revenue and advertising, in both digital and print, presented by Larry Kilman, Deputy CEO of WAN-IFRA.
Alongside the World Newspaper Congress, the World Editors Forum and the World Advertising Forum, Info Services Expo 2014 will present innovative solutions from the international suppliers’ community, while the new Energy Lounge will provide a first look at developing technology that could benefit the industry in future.
As always, the events are accompanied by an array of social events, gala dinners and lunches and are considered to be the premier opportunity to meet colleagues from around the world.