Newspaper & Mailroom
Digital Media India: Where Print is King, Digital is Coming on Strong
Monday 16. February 2015 - Even in countries where print newspapers continue to grow, the era of digital is at hand.
That was the message from the just concluded Digital Media India 2015, the South Asian edition of the renowned digital media events organised by WAN-IFRA, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (coming up next: Digital Media Europe, 20 to 22 April in London).
Though print circulation continues to increase in India and in many developing countries, publishers have no choice but to increase their digital presence, said Raghav Bahl, Founder of Network 18 and one of the most respected business leaders in India, in his keynote presentation.
“It should take about 5 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,” he said.
In the new order, news publishing cannot continue to be linear, but has to be conversational, said Mr Bahl, a remark that was echoed by numerous speakers.
The two-day conference attracted participants from 10 countries and was dedicated to discussions on content creation, delivery of news, revenue models and understanding and using audience data.
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 DMx network of events makes it one of the most relevant international business platforms dedicated to the transformation of the news media industry.
Digital Media India offered strategies and best practices that reflected the rapid growth of digital penetration in India and elsewhere in Asia, especially with mobile. Publishers were encouraged to increase their mobile presence quickly. Kalle Jungkvist, senior advisor to the Schibsted Media Group in Sweden, said mobile is the perfect medium for offering premium content.
Some of the takeaways from the conference included:
– Think shareability and audience at the outset of the story;
– Use chat apps to offer tailored content;
– Sub-segment audience and servie 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.
The conference 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 WAN-IFRA. The panelists said they 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 4CPlus, CCI Europe, PPI Media, Protec and Woodwing. 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.