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Eenadu to make presentation on Indian multimedia growth
The Indian newspaper market is drawing attention for both its growth and innovation. Newspapers executives from around the globe will have the opportunity to examine one particularly successful example of Indian innovation at the 61st World Newspaper Congress, to be held in Göteborg, Sweden from 1 to 4 June 2008. The 2009 WAN Congress will be held in India.
Eenadu, headquartered in Hyderabad, is expanding across the country, on all
media platforms. How the Telugu-language paper (the title means "Today")
grew from a fledgling print company to a media conglomerate with print,
television, internet and other media will be the subject of a presentation
by I Venkat, Director of the Group.
Newspaper companies are well-placed for multi-media growth, says Venkat. "We have the infrastructure, we know the markets, we have some understanding of consumer preferences and we have experience of running the business. So why not take advantage of the situation and try and get ahead?"
The Congress, World Editors Forum and Info Services Expo 2008 are expected
to draw well over 1,500 newspaper publishers, managing directors, CEOs,
chief editors and other senior newspaper executives to Sweden at a time when
the newspaper industry is focused more than ever on multimedia expansion.
The theme of the Congress reflects the changing nature of the industry -
"Newspapers: A Multi-Media Growth Business." Print publications remain the core activity of press companies, generating most of their profits and providing resilient to increasing competition from other information
channels. At the same time, digital media are allowing newspapers to significantly extend their audience and revenues.
How best to exploit the multi-media opportunities now open to newspapers
will be at the heart of the program. In addition to I Venkat of Eeenadu, confirmed speakers for the Congress include: Joe Webb, Deputy Managing Director of the Irish Independent; Tim Bowdler, Chief Executive of Johnston Press in the United Kingdom; Giorgio Valerio, General Manager of RCS Quotidiani in Italy; Christian Van Thillo, Chairman of De Persgroep in Belgium; Francis Morel, Director General, and Pierre Conge, Deputy Director General in charge of New Media, of Le Figaro in France; and
Tony Watson, Editor-in-Chief of The Press Association in the United Kingdom.
The Congress business sessions will focus on the following themes:
- What are the best strategies for growing audience, in print and online?
- What are the best strategies for increasing both print and digital
advertising and what growth can be expected? What management,
infrastructure and processes are necessary to sell advertising for a
portfolio of products, as opposed to a single newspaper title?
- How can the new reach attained by newspapers through their combined print
and digital operations be monetized? Many newspapers dominate their print and
digital markets how can they turn this into better profit?
- Newspapers are the Content Kings! How can the unique content gathered by
newspapers, which have the strongest journalistic teams in any media, be
exploited through the full range of new distribution channels? And, vitally,
what can be sold and what has to be free?
- Can and should newspaper brands be integrated in the digital world or
should we expect disaggregation?
- What changes are underway to better measure combined print and digital
reach? What is audience aggregation and how does a newspaper build its
product portfolio?
- What are some of the winning new products and acquisitions that successful
newspapers have added in recent times?
- The search engines: friend or foe? Is the continued growth and
diversification of the big search companies an opportunity for newspapers,
through partnerships for example, or a long-term threat to their revenues?
Sponsors for the events now include Volvo, Holmen Paper, SAS, Bonnier, and
the Stampen Group. The Paris-based WAN, is a global organisation for the newspaper industry, that defends and promotes press freedom and the professional and business
interests of newspapers world-wide. For evolving details of this year’s congress in Göteborg go to www.wansweden2008.com.
62nd World Newspaper Congress to be held in India – 22-25 March 2009
India has been chosen as the host country for the 62nd World Newspaper Congress, 16th World Editors Forum and Info Services Expo in 2009, the World Association of Newspapers announced last year.
The global summit meetings of the world’s press will be held from 22 to 25 March 2009 in Hyderabad and will be hosted by the Indian Newspaper Society. India has than 2000 daily newspapers in 100 languages with a combined circulation of 88 million. |
