Newsletter

Transcription

Newsletter

world edition
PreMedia
Cost-effective media design
International
media markets
Newsletter
Management Information
for the
– technology
Karl Malik Media Consultancy
Moscow - Vienna - Zurich
Karl.Malik@malik-consulting.de
www.malik-consulting.de
Media Industry December 2013
Multimedia
Appvertisement
– People
– organisation
Number 4
Volume 18
PreMedia Newsletter English World Edition – Latest news from the supply industry
December 2013
Intergraphics new sales partner in Thailand
ppi Media and Digital Collections Increase
Presence in South-east Asia
In south-east Asia, interest is increasing in the solutions developed
by ppi Media and Digital Collections (DC). As a result, in order to
provide improved, more intensive assistance and support for customers
and interested parties, the software producers from Hamburg
concluded a partner agreement in November 2013 with Intergraphics,
a Thai company.
“For a long time, Intergraphics has been held in high esteem in
the Thai market. We have also noted a trend towards digital media
in Thailand. Therefore, our customers and interested parties rightly
expect us to increase our presence,” said Christian Finder, Head of
International Sales at ppi Media. Effective immediately, Intergraphics
will represent ppi Media and Digital Collections, offering the entire
portfolio of solutions from both suppliers.“ Intergraph will work
closely with the Asian representative for DC and ppi Media: Medialive
Pte Ltd.
and ppi Media’s classic products, PlanPag and AdPag, which are used
to automate the planning and production of daily newspapers and
magazines, south-east Asian publishers are increasingly implementing
cross-media solutions such as AdX for integrated ad management
for print, web, tablets or broadcasting and Content-X, the new and
successful multimedia editorial system solution.
ppi Media in south-east Asia
ppi Media has been active in the south-east Asian market since 2003.
Its customers include, among others, Post Publishing Company Ltd in
Thailand, Singapore Press Holdings and MediaCorp in Singapore, and
the Compass Gramedia Group in Indonesia. Apart from a range of
DC’s archive solutions – e. g. at Mediaprima and The Star in Malaysia
From left to right: Reiner Ebenhoch, CEO MediaLive Asia, Christian
Finder, Head of International Sales at ppi Media, Ole Olsen,
CEO Digital Collections, Jesada T. Suwan, CEO Intergraphics in
Thailand, Prayong Daranuwat, Sales Manager at Intergraphics in
Thailand
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Page 2
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NewsStitch stitching unit.
December 2013
Editorial – PreMedia Newsletter English World Edition
The multimedia fight is only beginning
The fight for
the multimedia
power
is
increasingly
growing. It is
obvious:
All
media
channel
offers and thus
the overall media
consumption
habits
are
changing almost
every day. Media channels are merging
and the communication is becoming
increasingly mobile and interactive.
Readers and viewers are expecting that
information is realised via multimedia.
In the United States, the Washington
Post has been almost given away to the
Amazon founder at a sale price of 250
million US dollars.
The listed á la Google Internet
providers, etc. – who gained their
advantages from the newspaper media
for free, can now afford their hobbies.
They take newspapers over but seldom
really buy them.
In Germany, Axel Springer, led by the
media strategist Dr. Mathias Döpfner,
has merged its quality newspaper „Die
Welt“ with N24 Media. It is buying
the N24 news channel and takes Stefan
Aust, the former head of „Der Spiegel“,
into the team. The merger of Springer‘s
newspaper „Die Welt“ and N24 shall be
the beginning of an attack against the
Imprint
PreMedia-Newsletter GmbH
Management Information for the Media Industry
Publisher: Prof.Ing. Karl Malik
Managing Director: Dipl.-Graph. Piri Malik
leading news magazine „Der Spiegel“
and ARD/ZDF to gain multimedia
control in Germany. The largest coalition
between Springer and Stefan Aust, 67,
is not only possible because Aust is the
editor of „Die Welt“ but also because
his TV news channel N24 and 300
employees have been sold to Springer
and integrated into the „Die Welt“
group. Dr. Döpner has thus realised his
long dream of TV integration.
A development which can become
exemplary for the future of large
newspaper media provided there are
enough funds and resources.
For media houses other than Axel
Springer, this is possible to only a very
limited extent.
Rupert Murdoch has gained its own
experiences.
A sobering balance for the newspaper
publishers who have been trusting in
Axel Springer‘s and Rupert Murdoch‘s
multimedia model.
Is this really inevitable?
Money alone cannot win hearts
and does not lead to media consumer
sustainability.
Is it not the proximity to customers,
new product offers via all media
channels, particularly focused on
people‘s needs in the area of circulation?
Events strengthening brand loyalty,
also by developing and trying new
products. Business models in which
free media are considered part of our
free, democratic society. A successful
multimedia payment model requires own
new ways of corporate development.
What I mean is to have a corporate
culture relying on motivated employees
and economic viability.
Recently, I asked a successful media
manager who proudly spoke about
his further campaign of realisation by
cutting staff:
Where will your children work when
the time comes? He suddenly became
less talkative, even thoughtful and more
open.
More human.
It is a matter of the future of free,
economic, independent media. With
quality journalism which is paid for the
free speech and critical reports.
We need media – via all possible
channels. We must grow with them
while keeping an eye on the quality of
contents.
I wish you all the best for the
holiday period and courage for the new
challenges in free speech media, via
print, Internet and mobile!
Yours,
Prof. Ing. Karl Malik
Karl.Malik@premedianewsletter.de
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Page 3
PreMedia Newsletter English World Edition – Index
06
Appvertisement –
Ads on personal devices
CURRENT TRENDS IN THE MEDIA INDUSTRY
ppi Media and Digital Collections Increase Presence in South-east Asia.2
Editorial
The multimedia fight is only beginning.....................................................3
Coverstory
Appvertisement – Ads on personal devices...............................................7
TALKING WITH EXPERTS
manroland web systems GmbH puts emphasis on print specialisation ..12
Eckhard Hörner-Maraß, the managing director of manroland web
systems GmbH in Augsburg
People in the Spotlight
La Razón – strong partnership with ProtecMedia....................................16
Page 4
December 2013
12
manroland web systems GmbH puts
emphasis on print specialisation
Eckhard Hörner-Maraß, the managing director of manroland
web systems GmbH in Augsburg
CURRENT TRENDS IN THE MEDIA INDUSTRY
Raju Narisetti’s Top 9 Challenges Facing Journalism.............................18
Job 1 for newspapers: Audience development.........................................20
Media that is dynamically changing .......................................................21
“Sporty” teamwork: red.web and MSU announce cooperation...............24
Struggling industry throttles newspaper metrics......................................26
The Sun has digital subscribers and soccer, but the goal is hard to see...26
Lineup Systems’ impressive growth and technology
roadmap secures future for publishers in a turbulent market...................27
Latest news from the supply industry
Dependability and performance tip the scales.........................................30
Mittelland Zeitungsdruck AG upgrades with ABB
production management systems.............................................................31
KBA: shrinking backlog dims 2014 outlook...........................................31
Index – PreMedia Newsletter English World Edition
December 2013
40
18
World’s first 160-page
LITHOMAN begins
operation
Raju Narisetti’s Top
9 Challenges Facing
Journalism
Latest news from the supply industry
44
Offset and inkjet newspaper
printing from one source
Special Report – World Publishing Expo 2013
Verlagsgruppe Rhein Main banks on prepress solutions by ppi Media...32
WESTFALEN-BLATT opts for ppi Media..............................................42
The Boston Globe signs for Integrated Advertising, Production and
Business System from Miles 33...............................................................32
Total upgrade in St. Galler Rheintal........................................................42
New sales company Koenig & Bauer do Brasil in Sao Paulo.................34
Beijing Daily moves into commercial printing with China’s first Goss
M-800 web press......................................................................................34
A fitness program for the newspaper.......................................................35
Boosting efficiency, minimizing set-up times..........................................36
ABB to retrofit Wifag OF370 press at La Nacion, Buenos Aires............37
With MILENIUM we have reduced the working time in the editorial
area by at least one hour...........................................................................38
Profit and the compatibility concept........................................................39
Management change at ABB Printing......................................................39
World’s first 160-page LITHOMAN begins operation............................40
CCI to buy Escenic – the perfect match...................................................41
Offset and inkjet newspaper printing from one source............................44
How NPR lures younger digital audiences..............................................46
ppi Media enters the market in Kenya.....................................................47
The Sun attracts 117,000 paying subscribers to its
Sun+ digital service.................................................................................47
“The newspaper industry is alive and well”............................................48
The Portuguese newspaper A Bola, available in e-paper, tablets and
smartphones with Protecmedia viewers...................................................49
ppi Media looks back at a successful World Publishing Expo 2013.......50
People in the Spotlight
Richards retires after 45 Years in the Industry.........................................51
Page 5
PreMedia Newsletter English World Edition – Coverstory
December 2013
Appvertis
Ads on perso
Use of Newspaper Apps2
I am interested I am interested
very much to some extent
Browsing apps
Success factors in mobile marketing
I am not
interested
60%
26%
13%
Daily newspaper apps 63%
31%
6%
News apps
39%
10%
33%
6%
Apps for business 41%
39%
20%
Apps for playing
20%
32%
47%
Book apps
29%
40%
31%
Video apps
23%
44%
33%
Service apps
I am not
interested
51%
61%
I am interested
to some extent
Success factors
Personalisation
Localisation
Regularly
Emotionalisation
Ubiquity
Interactivity
I am interested
very much
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Temporary
Novelty
Low costs/contact
Although a genuine interest exists in „Press Apps“,
– national brands are the first that come to mind (SPIEGEL, BILD)
– very few regional publications still offer interesting apps, that meet the
requirements of the relevant target group.
2
Effective
sources: BDZV tablet study
Stuttgart Media University
Page 6
Page 10
Mobile Promotion Ad Link
Mobile sticker ad
Advantage: The Promotion Link Ad must be produced with a low technological overhead,
as it consists of only one image, a link and a short advertising text. If it is customized to the
App‘s editorial design, it is not immediately recognizable as an ad.
Disadvantage: If the Promotion Link Ad is customized to the editorial design, it is not as
eye-catching as an advertising space, which stands out from its environment. This makes it
easier for the ad to be ignored and to remain unnoticed.
Advantage: The horizontal scrolling ad space directs the user‘s attention to it. If the ad
space is not automatically enabled, but instead is opened by a user click, then the ad is not
perceived as intrusive. In addition, a small ad space on the side, which does not give much
away and which only hints at something, can awaken the user‘s curiosity.
Disadvantage: The sliding in of the ad space disrupts the user‘s usual behavior. The inserted
ad space covers editorial content that the user possibly wanted to read at the time. This can
be interpreted as a nuisance. The disadvantage of being activated by the user is that s/he
can simply ignore the ad space and in certain circumstances simply not see it.
Page 6
Page 15
Page 16
Coverstory – PreMedia Newsletter English World Edition
December 2013
Mobile Interstitial Ad
sement –
onal devices
Advantage: The advantages of the interstitial ad is its size. As it completely fills the screen,
users are obliged to notice it or to view it. It is also easy to use and available on Rich Media
Elements, as it fills the entire screen and therefore offers enough space for images and
interactive elements.
Disadvantage: The interstitial ad can quickly be perceived as disruptive, insofar as it is
automatically activated, and appears without the user having made any selection and it fills
the entire screen area. In this way the user‘s original app use is disrupted.
Page 13
Mobile Content Ad
Mobile Expandable Ad
Advantage: The mobile content ad can be created at a low overhead. Furthermore, it is
inserted relatively unobtrusively in the typical product structure of a Smartphone App and
is considered as less intrusive. If it is well adapted in the App‘s layout, it is not immediately
identifiable as an ad space. A banner in the larger format is a better way of attracting the
users‘ attention.
Disadvantage: While the content ad is inserted relatively unobtrusively in the App‘s product
structure, it is easier to overlook it or not pay attention to it.
Advantage: The advantage of the expandable ad, where it is not automatically activated, is
that it only expands when the user interacts with the ad. In its original format it is therefore
not intrusive and offers the user more information if s/he is explicitly interested in it. (Different
to pre-expandable ads.)
Disadvantage: In the expandable ad the user can easily ignore the ad space or simply skip
over it. The disadvantage of the pre-expandable ad is that it can disrupt the user behavior, as
it is automatically activated and it forces the user to view it.
Page 12
Mobile Sticky Ad
Mobile Gesture Ad
Picture 1
Page 14
Picture 1
Picture 2
Advantage: The users can decide themselves if they want to view the advertising or not, in
this way advertising is considered to be less of a nuisance. Furthermore, the interaction with
the ad space increases the user‘s level of attention.
Disadvantage: As users can decide for themselves whether or not to view the ad, they can
also choose to ignore the ad and possibly do not notice it at all. If the ad is not well prepared,
it can make users perceive them as being badly made. This can result in a negative image.
Advantage: The ad space reappears after scrolling which means that the user‘s attention is
repeatedly directed to the ad space.
Disadvantage: As the tablet sticky ad reappears continuously, the user can find it annoying.
Page 17
Page 18
Page 7
Nokia Lumia, Sony Xperia, Samsung
Galaxy, Apple iPhone, Motorola Razor,
Asus Padfone, HTC One, Samsung
Galaxy, Samsung Note, Samsung Galaxy
Note, Apple iPad, Lenovo Thinkpad
Tablet, Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy
Tab, HTC Flyer – even an extract from
the list of currently available smart
phones and tablets shows the diversity
and dynamics of the mobile devices
market. At the same time, this diversity
also demonstrates the huge potential
for the range of mobile media products.
The use of mobile devices is continually
increasing, not least because data tariffs
are becoming cheaper and due to broad
network coverage.
These facts alone must be cause for
celebration in the press industry – completely
new markets and potential are still opening
up, in order to be able to counter the constant
gradual collapse and contraction of the
traditional markets. Many investigations and
studies on media use are cause for hope, in
particular studies of use by younger people,
who are showing a preference in the future
for mobile information channels.
In addition to the question, if and whether
editorial contents can be monetized in the
Internet and on mobile devices and the
ensuing “paid content” discussion, as a
media company it is natural to immediately
think about marketing advertising formats
on mobile devices. The lessons learned
from classic Internet display advertising
demonstrate that it is not possible to simply
import a business model to a new medium.
There are particular points that must
be taken into consideration, in order to
be successful in the mobile market. As is
always the case with a new development,
there are currently no standardized terms
or norms. Many companies are conducting
experiments and trying out different options
with clients.
December 2013
Digital society
People who have not reached
much in the digital world
Digital
outsiders
Casual
users
Digital
professionals
People feeling confident in the
digital world
Trend
users
Digital
Digital avantprofessionals
garde
Success factors for advertising in News apps
This article deals with a few general
points, without claiming to be a complete
analysis or a guarantee of success, as the
author is very aware of the dynamics of this
new field. Nonetheless, it is worth analyzing
findings from advertising (advertisement)
and the opportunities and special features
of mobile applications (apps) – which can
therefore best be described using the term
“appvertisement”, as it is ultimately about
advertising on mobile devices.
What does “mobile marketing”
actually mean?
Mobile marketing can use the advantage
of Individualization in a focused manner, in
which for example the customer’s personal
preferences and possibly the location
preference are taken into consideration. In
the final analysis, “one-to-one” marketing
occurs with a stronger Push component.
This means theoretically that advertising
messages can be sent to the clients at a
targeted time – although only where they
give their permission. The advantages lie in
a higher degree of involvement and therefore
a greater level of interest in the advertising
message. From the advertiser’s perspective
this represents improved advertising contact
and less waste coverage. According to Andre
Alpar in his great online marketing manual:
“The customer must feel that you are speaking
directly to him, that you are responding to his
particular interests and his way of life, and
that he is valued.” This aspect of subjective
communication is set to become ever more
important in the future.
Of course the recipient can be bombarded
with over 3,000 advertising stimuli daily so
there is a need for a high degree of selectivity.
Especially advertising in electronic media,
television and Internet is very quickly
perceived as intrusive and can for example
easily be hidden using software tools. (This
is incidentally a major advantage of printed
media, in which advertising is not perceived
as intrusive but rather as supplementary
information.)
For this reason, mobile advertising is
more useful as a supplementary and focused
advertising tool, which of course must
take into account success factors such as
personalization, localization, ubiquitousness,
interactivity,
user
friendliness
and
emotionalization.
Are we not all a
little bit “mobile”?
In the study “Germany’s digital
society: A comparison of six user types”,
Matthias Peterhans from Initiative D21 in
collaboration with the Federal Ministry for
Finance and Technology, researched and
categorized society in the digital world since
Prof. Christof Seeger, Dean of Stuttgart Media University, encourages newspaper media to be brave when it comes to innovation
Page 8
Coverstory – PreMedia Newsletter English World Edition
December 2013
2009. 1,005 interviews were conducted and
formed the basis of this study.
that user types of mobile media can
be divided into two main groups “Digital
novices” and “Digital experts”, which can be
more accurately subdivided into six further
segments.
The digital society
(Source: http://www.initiative21.de)
If you compare the two main types of
user groups, a significant difference emerges
in terms of mobile Internet use. While the
“Digital Novices”, who represent 62% of the
German population, hardly ever use mobile
Internet up to now, every second person in
the “Digital Experts” group (38% of the
German population) is already a mobile user
of the World Wide Web.
Experts therefore assume that mobile
Internet use is set to grow hugely in the years
ahead. By the year 2014 at the latest, it is
expected that there will be more mobile users
accessing the Internet worldwide with mobile
devices than with stationary computers.
Mobile Internet speed, which has been the
main issue up to now, will be resolved by
then, with the nationwide introduction of
new LTE technology. With transfer rates of
up to 150,000 KBit/s, specific rural regions
could have high speed mobile Internet
connections, which would imply that even
greater increases are likely.
According to the Digital Life Study in
2011 (http://2010.tnsdigitallife.com/) 43
per cent of tablet owners use their devices
in transit, 41 per cent prefer surfing while
they watch television, the remaining 21 per
cent of this group are more likely to use it
incidentally when cooking and shopping. It
is immediately obvious that users of smart
phones behave differently. Currently 57 per
cent of digital novices and 61 per cent of
digital experts use the Internet on their smart
phones while on the go.
This study could be helpful in the design
of planned advertising measures. Given
that the majority of users criticize the slow
speeds of the mobile Internet, more elaborate
and complex ads are not recommended,
at least for now. Interruptions in videos or
animations that require too much traffic or
take too long to load, are found to be intrusive
and therefore do not achieve the hoped for
advertising effectiveness of a campaign. Of
course this problem is likely to be resolved,
as already mentioned, by the expansion of
the LTE technology.
The success of a mobile ad in news apps
is dependent on several factors. As a result,
design and usability of an In-App ad are
just as important as ensuring that the ad is
positioned at the right time and with the right
topic within the app. In order to maximize
the success of the advertising campaigns in
news apps, some important rules must be
kept in mind at the planning and creation
stages. It is not only the app that should
be designed according to certain rules, but
the ad itself that appears there. To make it
as easy as possible for the users to receive
the advertising message and at the same
time not to bother them too much with ads,
it is important to stick to some design and
usability principles.
u
u
esign for touch
D
–
Independent
of
the
device
manufacturers the minimum sizes for
“Touch Areas” must be adhered to
(Minimum size 44 x 44 pixels)
–
Intervals and arrangement between
the clickable elements must be
adhered to, so that the recipient can
navigate in a focused way.
esign for medium
D
–
The number of different output
devices poses serious challenges
for the creatives with regard to the
technical data, such as resolution,
screen size etc.
– A good ad must adapt quickly to the
different output channels.
u
Design for mode
– When designing mobile advertising it
is important to consider where the ad
will be viewed in portrait or landscape
mode, as these also affect the size of
the ad space and the design.
u
esign for system
D
– With multimedia content, the output
device must also be taken into
account. Flash programming for
example is not executable on an iOS
device.
Mobile Rich Media Ads
Mobile Rich Media Ads are defined as ads
that contain interactive multimedia elements
on top of “classic” static content. For
example where ads come loaded with current
information (up-to-date weather forecasts or
stock exchange rates for instance), ads can be
extended over a larger area by clicking the
banner and also the location of the App user
can be identified by GPS and a local map can
be displayed. However, the mobile website
or app is not exited when the interactive
content is displayed, but instead the content
extends over the content of the app and can
then be closed again with a click.
Multiple studies demonstrate that InApp ads with multimedia content are more
successful than static banners, with the caveat
that Rich Media Ads in certain circumstances
with slower Internet connections are
annoying. The ever improving net coverage
with 3G and especially the new standard LTE
are helping to resolve this issue. The fact that
many newspaper apps can be downloaded
in one go in the morning and are then
available offline to the user for the remainder
of the day, further reduces the significance
of the problem for newspaper apps. At the
same time, it is important when creating
these types of ads to ensure that the
required data volumes do not exceed a
certain size. The morning download of
the newspaper edition should not take
any more time than absolutely necessary
and an app should not use up too much
device memory.
Recommendations for
newspaper publishing
The potential and opportunities in the area
of mobile advertising are actually enormous.
Nonetheless it is vital not to indiscriminately
implement everything just because it is
technically possible, without first evaluating
the added value to the recipients and their
user experience. Newspaper publishers have
an opportunity to offer mobile advertising as
an add-on and a bonus, based on the classic
print campaign.
Portrait Prof. Christof Seeger
Christof Seeger (born on 26 July 1973 in Germany) is a professor for periodical media for print and
online markets since 2005 in the degree course Media Publishing at Stuttgart Media University.
Since 2007 he is Dean of the Master’s Degree Course in Print & Publishing at Stuttgart Media
University. Seeger completed his studies in Print Technology at Stuttgart College of Printing in
Stuttgart, majoring in Marketing and Management. He was publishing director and managing
director of a medium-sized newspaper publication for several years.
Seeger gained international experience with the news magazine Newsweek and was involved in
several projects in other European countries. In 2004 he founded a management consultancy
firm and since then he has collaborated on several publishing projects. He has been a lecturer
and trainer in management and sales topics for the Federal Association of German Newspaper
Publishers and the Newspaper Marketing Society (ZMG).
At Stuttgart Media University, his areas of interest included communications
issues in the area of media use and media reception. Seeger investigates for
example reading behavior with print products or the use of mobile devices through
eye tracking.
Page 9
In order to be able to profitably market
the particular potential of mobile advertising
within the context of newspaper apps,
it is indispensable for the sales teams to
be properly qualified. The difficulties in
sales of online advertising forms are well
known. Now mobile is adding a whole new
dimension to this.
In its own interest, publishers should
promote standardization for mobile ads, in
December 2013
order to be able to offer an appropriate set
of formats and options that they know well
and that can offer the customer the desired
added value.
Ideally, publisher representatives would
be able to sit down with customers at the
design phase in order to discuss the benefits
of multimedia advertising or even a crossmedia campaign at this point. In summary, it
can be said that “ Appvertisement” represents
an additional new challenge for press
publishing, which ultimately can only be
successfully mastered when we learn to think
from the recipient’s point of view. In the
process, patterns of use, user environments
and human-machine interactions must
be evaluated at the design stage, so that
mobile advertising formats are acceptable
and ultimately, that they are successful for
advertising clients and the publisher.
Kai Diekmann‘s focus at BILD.de
is on the youth
Winds of change blowing from the
conservative angle: Julian Reichelt (photo),
33, most recently a controversial advocate of
global NSA monitoring, assumes the role of
chief editor at Bild.de. Predecessor Manfred
Hart, at 60 almost twice as old as Reichelt,
withdrew from his position in February 2014
in exchange for a role as a chief editor for
digital development projects. The momentum
is coming from Senior Executive Kai
Diekmann, who, following his experience in
Silicon Valley is now putting all his energy
into online efforts and rejuvenation, although
at 49 he is no longer a spring chicken himself.
Reichelt is a homegrown Springer talent,
having started his writing career for “Bild”
at 18 years of age, a student of Springer’s
school of journalism and a senior reporter
for “Bild” since 2007, even reporting from
crisis and war zones. His digital footprint is
not particularly deep, apart from his attempt
to present himself as a quick lateral thinker
in the NSA/Snowdon affair where he became
the victim of a shit storm with a controversial
commentary piece. Hart has been managing
Bild.de since 2007 and with quiet persistence
has transformed the website, which for a
long time lagged behind Spiegel Online,
into the news site with the greatest number
of clicks in Germany. In the future, Hart is
set to take on community, social media or
video projects, and teach online journalism
to the students at the Axel Springer school of
journalism.
Wijeya Newspapers Ltd., Sri Lanka
The first step towards automation in the mailroom
Wijeya Newspapers Ltd. is one of the most innovative media
groups in Sri Lanka, and at the same time can record some of the
country’s highest sales figures. The company publishes more
than 14 daily and weekly newspapers and magazines in all three
national languages – Sinhala, Tamil and English – with an overall
circulation of more than a million copies. For the company, recent
years have also been marked by rising circulations, especially in
the case of the Sunday newspapers. To meet the growth in demand,
the company has decided to add a 24-page press with a production
speed of 45,000 copies an hour to the two existing newspaper
presses.
To make full use of the speed and productivity advantages of the
press, and ultimately transfer those gains all the way through to the
loading docks, too, Wijeya Newspapers made the decision to make its
first investment in mailroom automation. The company has installed
a UTR Universal conveyor as the basis, and has automated bundling
with a MultiStack stacking system. Wijeya Newspapers was able
to configure the line layout individually, so that products reach the
MultiStack system by a direct route. On arrival, the daily newspapers
are processed into bundles, and go to the sales outlets in that form.
The team at Wijeya Newspapers is especially impressed by Ferag’s
added-value concept, which allows new sources of revenue to be
tapped by extending the mailroom.
Page 10
V.l.: Sujan Wijewardene, Director, Wijeya Newspapers Ltd.;
Janaka Rathnakumara, Assistant General Manager, Hokandara
Press Complex, Wijeya Newspapers Ltd., Marcel Binder, Sales
Director, Ferag AG
Publishing on all channels!
www.worldpublishingexpo.com
PreMedia Newsletter English World Edition – Talking with experts
December 2013
manroland web systems GmbH puts
emphasis on print specialisation
PreMedia Newsletter:
Dear Mr Hörner-Maraß: since February
2012, manroland web systems, Augsburg,
is owned by the Possehl Group from
Lübeck. What are your strategic visions
for the leading traditional brand in
manroland’s highly integrated printing
press manufacture in the foreseeable
future?
Eckhard Hörner-Maraß: Our strategy
has been developed on the assumption that
manroland web systems will keep its print
potential also in the future.We are going to
change. But this will be an evolutionary and
not revolutionary change.
As a man who approaches things in a
practical and realistic way I say to myself:
Cobbler, stick to your trade. For us, this is the
entire product and service range, all around
the topic of printing process in its broadest
sense.It may sound somewhat conservative
but we are going to change a lot here.
As regards our general focus, we are
going to develop to a full-line supplier for
the conventional print area. With a complete,
finely graded product range, from entry-level
to premium-level. In certain regions of the
world, potentials come from the emerging
markets such as India and China. This is
why we are going to expand our product
range downward. In the past, we focused a
lot on technological premium solutions. The
entry-level products persuade customers by
their simplicity and ease of operation while
keeping the same print quality.
Brief profile of
Eckhard Hörner-Maraß
Eckhard Hörner-Maraß (53) has
been the managing director of
manroland web systems GmbH
in Augsburg since 15 September
2012. The graduate engineer has
more than 25 years‘ experience
as a manager in mechanical
engineering industry, among other
things, in business management at
JenbacherEnergiesysteme GmbH
and Zeppelin Baumaschinen
GmbH. Since 2002, Hörner-Maraß
has been the managing director of
HOLZMAPlattenaufteiltechnik GmbH,
a company belonging to the HOMAG
Group.
Page 12
Another case in point is the service, one
of our strengths already now.We are going to
permanently expand our service portfolio. For
instance, we are going to gradually increase
our role as full-service provider within the
entire value-added chain of our customers.
With requirement-based solutions, tuned to
the individual needs.
Furthermore, we want to conquer new
market segments. Our commitment to
the digital print development proved to
be rewarding in the recent successful
sale. It took a little bit of patience, but
it was worthwhile. The goal now is to
make use of the existing know-how in a
profitable way.
In my opinion, here our opportunities are
in the flexible packaging print, safety print
and textile print. These are the disciplines
in which we want to realise competitive
products in a fast way.
With the growing importance of
digital media and the changed media
consumption habits, the print industry
with its business models gains a new
position. This equally applies to the
printing houses and suppliers. What do
you think about the opportunities of print
communication in the newspaper and job
printing?
Eckhard Hörner-Maraß: I trust in the
printed word and demand for printing
machines will definitely come. This
must be said first. I myself am an active
Internet user. But I am sure that it will take
several more generations to find suitable
tools allowing to display modern media
in the digital world in a profitable way.
Until this time, printing machines will
be required.
December 2013
Talking with experts – PreMedia Newsletter English World Edition
“As a medium-sized enterprise we cannot change the market
development absolutely, but we can definitely drive the market
to some extent. ”
Of course this does not mean that things
will remain as they were before. Circulation
may stagnate or reduce. This is why we have
to adapt to the changing media consumption
behaviour, but without rush. Because the
new media like the Internet or devices like
tablet will not replace the old, printed media
completely. In this context I would like to
mention the “Riepl’s Law”, formulated by
Wolfgang Riepl in 1913. Riepl, at that time
the chief editor of the largest Nuremberg
newspaper, said: New media don’t displace
old media, but accrete on top and converge
with them. In this case this means that
the printed media will change and have to
search for new applications. This will keep
them attractive. A glance at the past shows:
neither radio nor cinema have been replaced
by the television. On the contrary: Radio and
cinema had to establish themselves anew
after the spread of television.
Thus publishers and printers have to
develop new ideas and solutions. For
example, with integrated inkjet Axel Springer
realises a progressive approach while
connecting printed and digital newspaper.
Rupert Murdoch is another example. He
combines analogue and digital technologies
in the newspaper as cross-selling. Recently,
he equipped 26 towers with integrated inkjet
solutions at “News International” in Great
Britain.
The ways the worldwide media markets
develop are very different. For the
print media markets and for the printing
machine supply industry this means
the opportunity and at the same time
the threat. Where do you think are the
opportunities for manroland web systems
in this situation, the ability to successfully
use growth potential?
Eckhard Hörner-Maraß: There are
opportunities and challenges, this is
absolutely right. As global player we are
dependent not only on Europe. Our sales
are also strong in growing markets in
Asia. The United States and Australia are
characterised by a strong consolidation and
centralisation.
If we look at the opportunities, there is
room for action in the regional newspaper
printing, in the emerging markets and in the
service sector overall.
In particular, the newspaper market has a
certain status, and here, “the fast ones beat the
slow ones and the big ones the small ones”.
An important keyword is “regional”. This is
where I see the potential. In the newspaper
sector, innovative, regional business models
give publishers some opportunities. Here,
digital technology will be increasingly used
as supplement of the web offset. It can handle
the requirements of the regional readers and
advertisement and the reduced circulation
in an even more individual way. Due to the
collaboration with Océ, manroland web
systems is well prepared for this.
Apart from the technological premium
segment, we want to find more customers
in the emerging nations. Taking a lead from
the slogan: “Think global, act local”, we are
going to develop strategies how, as a fullline supplier, to timely provide all existing
customers in the emerging markets with
competitive products from manroland web
systems. All direct and indirect product
costs, from manufacture to the end customer,
shall be analysed in detail and the right
conclusions shall be drawn. Simplicity is the
key to success! It will certainly be necessary
to provide a less high-tech but still innovative
product design.
In the service sector there is also a growth
potential. With our absolute customer
orientation we ask our customers what they
need. It is not what we primarily strive for
to reach the maximum margin with certain
activities. The customers increasingly
demand holistic service concepts. So they
can focus on their core competences. They
want more then to have the opportunity to
buy consumables, the keywords are retrofit
and process optimisation. With print.
competence we offer our customers services
which are individually tuned to their needs
in terms of the scope and content. This is the
path we will continue to follow.
Are there any particularly successful
product segments for you, some very
successful manrolandLITHOMAN series
for high-volume illustration printing?
Eckhard Hörner-Maraß: You address
illustration printing and you are right. Last
year we were particularly successful here.
Meanwhile, two thirds of machines with
96-page configuration on the market are
from manroland web systems. The start-up
of the large commercial web press at KraftSchlötels in Wassenberg was something
special as well. A LITHOMAN with 180
page configuration is an achievement that
makes us proud and demonstrates high
Page 13
PreMedia Newsletter English World Edition – Talking with experts
December 2013
What integrated process workflow
solutions can manroland web systems
offer to the potential investors as part of
the holistic print media work process?
For example, in the integration of digital
and offset print?
“The digital print and the related opportunities for our
processing components and workflows are of the utmost
importance.”
performance. This is also reflected in the
market shares which give us 36% in the
sector of commercial web presses.
We are also proud of the sold
COLORMAN e:line or of the highly
automated COLORMAN for the Finnish
Punamusta. The dedication of e:line at the
newspaper publishing house in Allgäu was a
major success and a real highlight. Here we
want to do more.
The new control system with control centre
and MobilPad is an explicitly successful
product. This applies to the commercial
and newspaper printing. After the last drupa
2012 we sold 26 systems. The touch screen
control and the mobile control panel meet
the customer requirements and are very
popular in the printer applications. This also
applies to News Limited in Australia. Here,
the control system is expanded as part of a
comprehensive retrofit.
In addition, the retrofit and upgrade
service segment gains increasingly in
importance. Lately, we could assert
ourselves in many projects. In addition
to the extensive project for the Australian
news, a large retrofit of the newspaper print
machines at the Austrian print group Styria
is pending.
Page 14
Eckhard Hörner-Maraß: manroland web
systems is one of the first companies to
create a bridge between digital and offset.
Because we do not leave the customers
alone with the integration of processes
and production equipment. For us, process
electronics, product planning and hightech printing technology are a unit that
ensures smooth production process in an
optimum way. The users of the digital
print processing modules FoldLine and
FormerLine from manroland web systems
benefit from this strength to the full extent.
With the DigiLink and the printnetwork
Bridge we have developed software
modules that connect the previously separate
production worlds of offset print and
digital print.
The DigiLink, for instance, allows
planning of offset and digital production from
a central workplace. In addition, it monitors
the production in print and mailroom. Real
multitasking connecting offset and digital in
the workflow.
How important is the fast-growing
digital printing for manroland
web systems?
48 pages broadsheet 6/2 Colorman XL Autoprint at Athesia
Talking with experts – PreMedia Newsletter English World Edition
December 2013
Eckhard Hörner-Maraß: The digital
print and the related opportunities for our
processing components and workflows are
of the utmost importance. We have received
orders, for example, for the FormerLine from
Hucais Printing in China and for the FoldLine
from RotolitoLombarda in Italy. This gives
us power to stay optimistic. In these new
approaches, we have to show a certain degree
of patience. Together with the customers we
have to develop completely new business
models which can be quickly “produced out
of thin air”. Long-term thinking and action
have always been and continue to be required
here.
With the upcoming projects we can now
prove how economical our installations
are. This is how we want to persuade other
potential clients. In my view, the strategic
partnership with Océ is absolutely correct
and important, it is planned for the long term
and is future-oriented. We are not going to
develop digital print heads ourselves because
for a small enterprise it is really better not to
do everything itself.
What can be the successful strategy for
manroland web systems GmbH with
1,500 highly qualified employees in
Augsburg in the medium term?
Eckhard Hörner-Maraß, Managing Director manroland Websystems Inc.
Colorman 6/2 XL Autoprint at Athesia at Bolzano, Italy
Eckhard
Hörner-Maraß:
Product
development : As a medium-sized
enterprise we cannot change the market
development absolutely, but we can
definitely drive the market to some
extent. This particularly concerns our new
products and installations in the area of
the continuous increase in productivity.
We provide technology for competitive,
attractive print products to secure a strong
market position for print. We will continue
to follow this path of progress, even in a
smaller market.
You mentioned our 1,500 employees,
1,400 in Augsburg and about 100 at our
external companies. The advantages of our
today’s middle-sized enterprise have already
started to pay off. We are more than ever
customer-oriented, very flexible and can
quickly implement new customer solutions
and are, due to the considerably leaner
processes, more profitable.
Many people are asking: Do you as a
middle-sized company still have sufficient
capacity for research and development?
Here I can say: yes, we have. In our R&D
efforts for the new machines as well as for
the retrofits, we attach great importance to
the demand-oriented solutions. What we
should do in the first place is to increase
productivity of our customers along the entire
value-added chain. And if our customers
are successful, we at manroland web
systems will also have a successful future
ahead of us.
Page 15
PreMedia Newsletter English World Edition – People in the spotlight
December 2013
La Razón – strong partnership with ProtecMedia
example, the technical department
consists of few technicians, we
are talking about eight people,
of which four belong to our
newspaper and the other four
are outsourcers. To be more
precise, what we do is to rely on
Protect for all the development
of the sound composition and
The admirable cathedral of Madrid “Santa María la Real de la Almudena”
Herbert Kolling, ProtecMedia Germany,
talking to Miguel Ángel Garcia:
Herbert Kolling:
Mr Garcia, he media world is undergoing
a change. I thank you for your readiness
for an interview with PreMedia
Newsletter. Could you tell the readers of
PreMedia Newsletter something about
you and “La Razón”?
Miguel Ángel García: As Mr Kolling has
just mentioned, I am the technical director
of “La Razón” since its foundation in 1998,
specifically on 5th November 1998. The
corporate philosophy externalises all what
is not considered to be the core competency
of this newspaper. “La Razón” is composed
of a newsroom with approximately 200 220 journalists. At present, the newspaper
has four offices distributed on the national
territory in: Valencia, Seville, Barcelona and
Valladolid, and the headquarters is located
in Madrid. The truth is that we have been
a newspaper that little by little has been
positioning in the difficult press market of
a country which regarding the read rates is
in one of the lowest of Europe. But well we
got our void in the market and we are going
to keep trying to maintain that position and
grow little by little.
Herbert Kolling:
I understand. For our international
readers, how would you describe the
current segment of the informative press
in the market? How is your position in
comparison with your competitors?
Page 16
Miguel Ángel García: The newspaper
“La Razón” belongs to GrupoPlaneta,
that nowadays is one of the strongest
communication groups of this country.
Maybe we are the smallest newspaper,
regarding its structure, but we are one of the
national dailies with national coverage. And
well, these are tough times for press, there is
no reason to hide it. We all know that press
is affected by two crises. The economic one
which all of us are suffering, and the business
model one. But I think that “La Razón”,
being a newspaper with a light structure, in
these times of storm and difficulties, maybe
for this reason, can defend and assert itself
better. Maybe we are able to move forward in
a perhaps, less traumatic way than the rest of
our competitors.
La Razón relies on high-quality journalism
Herbert Kolling:
Yes, of course. And regarding Protect
Media, what does the relationship look
like, what products do you currently
offer, what do you use and what is your
first feeling?
Miguel Ángel García: I would define the
experience with ProtecMedia as satisfactory.
Protect won the contest we initiated one
year ago to select a new partner for semantic
search at CMS. We were looking mainly for
a reliable partner, a technological partner
that would offer a level of confidence, and
the guarantee of a product, a robust package
product that is not that ad hoc, and would not
mortgage us in future. I think we overcame
it in an overwhelming manner because
as I said, it is a really light newspaper; for
Miguel ÁngelGarcía, technical director of
the newspaper „La Razón“
December 2013
People in the spotlight – PreMedia Newsletter English World Edition
La Razon counts on the
highly integrated
Crossmedia Portal
from Protec Media
all the new things that can come up to us to
be developed by this technological partner,
a partner in which we trust. And another
aspect that, in my opinion, is interesting to
highlight, is that the managing department of
our newsroom is really small, we are talking
about nine editors. Nine editors are able to
maintain a website with an optimum degree
of actualization and a great dynamic. I think
this says pretty a lot about the work tool.
There is no need for a lot of people dedicated
to update the website or make new designs
and new templates.
Herbert Kolling:
Yes, that’s right. I want to thank you
for your time, your patience and for
answering kindly to all the questions.
Thank you very much!
Miguel Ángel García: I thank you.
Herbert Kolling, Managing Director of ProtecMedia Germany, an experienced expert in
the international media market
Page 17
PreMedia Newsletter English World Edition – Current trends in the media industry
December 2013
Raju Narisetti’s Top 9
Challenges Facing Journalism
With more and more people consuming
news digitally, the future of journalism has
never been brighter. But journalists of the
future will face a number of challenges,
according to Raju Narisetti, senior vice
president and deputy head of strategy at the
new News Corporation.
Narisetti recently shared his predictions
about the future of media with students at the
West Virginia University P.I. Reed School of
Journalism, (where I am dean) as part of our
Future of Media — Now series.
In a nod to the “listicle” format,
popularized by BuzzFeed, Narisetti provided
his top nine reasons why the road ahead for
journalism will be tricky to navigate.
1. Print isn’t going away.
Despite downsizing and cutbacks at the
nation’s top newspapers, print journalism
continues to offers advertisers the most
effective way to reach audiences in many
markets.
For example, The Washington Post (where
Narisetti served as a managing editor) still
captures about 40 percent of the local market,
providing a necessary revenue stream for the
paper.
“If it’s 50, 60, 70 percent of our revenue
and profit is coming from print, we will
always have to have kind of large staffs
focused on print,” Narisetti said. Comparing
print journalism to the declining auto
industry, he said, “It’s like Detroit. Fewer
people will make it [journalism], but you will
always need somebody making it.”
2. Digital advertising isn’t the savior.
While more readers are moving to digital,
the revenues from digital haven’t kept
pace — because the audience has become
increasingly fragmented, giving advertisers
the upper hand.
“If you’re an advertiser, the choices you
have where you can run your ads continue
to explode,” Narisetti said. “And as a result
you [news media] can make a fair amount of
money on digital, but it’s nowhere close to
what the revenue is for print.”
Narisetti says it’s essential that newsrooms
build new revenue models into new digital
products and applications. He described
The New York Times’ Pulitzer Prizewinning Snowfall project as an “amazing”
experience that fell short because it had no
revenue model attached to it. “At the end of
the day, the Snowfall page views are really
empty calories because they really haven’t
generated any incremental revenue.”
3. Paywalls are here to stay and
struggle.
West Virginia University journalism
students take notes and tweet during
Narisetti’s presentation.
The number of newspapers with paywalls
will continue to grow but with varying
degree of success because it’s hard to
attract digital subscribers willing to pay for
content. Narisetti says that the most a news
organization can expect to attract from either
a paywall or a metered model is about 5
percent of its unique digital audience.
“If it’s seen as an extra source of revenue,
I think it will succeed, but if paywalls are
seen as solving the problem [of funding
journalism], then most of them will fail,” said
Narisetti.
4. News will have to go to readers;
they don’t have to come to us.
With Facebook and other social media
providing new pathways to journalism, the
modern audience doesn’t expect to work hard
to “find” the news. Today’s digital journalists
must be able to write, report and market
their stories. At the very minimum, reporters
need to know how to use SEO to their
advantage.
“In the print world, there is a position
called circulation marketer, whose job is to
figure out how to make money. That doesn’t
exist in the digital world,” said Narisetti.
“In 2013 the definition of a journalist must
include ‘I will do everything I can to bring
more people to my journalism.’”
5. Web video offers a
possible way out.
Raju Narisetti
Page 18
Web video offers a significant monetization
opportunity because (a) audiences want it and
(b) the pre-roll advertising can be embedded
into the content.
December 2013
“Video is the first form of journalism
where we have figured out that when
somebody watches it – no matter where they
watch it – the business model travels with it,”
Narisetti said.
For that reason, The Wall Street Journal
— a former print-only publication — is now
producing about 1,600 videos or 120 hours of
video a month, making it the largest producer
of video in the world outside of a television
newsroom.
6. Mobile might be a threat or
opportunity, but it is a journalism
reality.
With an increasing number of people
accessing news through mobile devices,
news organizations must adopt a “mobilefirst” model — or risk becoming irrelevant.
This means packaging content in a way
that is easy to digest on a small “window.”
For example, long narrative print leads could
be replaced with shorter, snappier leads that
can be read on the first screen.
It also means devoting significantly more
resources to mobile, which is a long way
in coming. Narisetti says that even at The
Wall Street Journal — which 36 percent of
its audience reads only on mobile — just a
handful of people serve on its mobile team.
Current trends in the media industry – PreMedia Newsletter English World Edition
8. Good and bad experiences all
come at the same intersection:
content and technology.
To produce impactful digital journalism,
reporters, developers and designers all have
to work together to create quality content that
also will engage an audience.
But working as a team can be challenging
for professionals who don’t always
understand and appreciate what the “other”
is doing.
“When you go into newsrooms, you don’t
have to code, but what you have to be able
to do as a journalist is to speak the language
of developers,” said Narisetti. “If you make
the conversation about what is the experience
we’re trying to give to our audience, the
developers get it and understand what you’re
trying to do.”
9. Newsrooms now face a new
competitor: our advertisers.
Many companies that advertised in
traditional media are now going directly to
their consumers to promote their brands.
The rise of “sponsored content” and “native
advertising” has created a major threat to
newsrooms.
Companies have also become skilled
content producers, vying for “the single nonrenewable resource my readers have, which
is their time,” said Narisetti. For example,
General Electric is trying to position itself
as a leader in innovation through videos
and social media campaigns such as
#6secondsciencefair.
“We have to start thinking, how do we
engage with these brands, how do we help
them do this,” he said. If news organizations
don’t play in that space, they “are not going to
have the opportunity to make any significant
revenue in digital.”
Ultimately, the key to thriving and
not just surviving in the ever-evolving
digital environment is to continue to adapt,
experiment and anticipate what’s coming
next.
“The good thing about talking about
the future is that it’s in the future,” he
said. “But the bad thing is, it doesn’t have
a sign post saying it’s coming. You just
wake up one day and realize it kind of hit
you, and if you’re not prepared, you’re left
behind.”
-Maryanne Reed is the
Dean at West Virginia University’s
P.I. Reed School of Journalism.-
7. Great journalism matters, but how
readers experience that journalism
will matter even more.
Today’s
news
consumers
are
“promiscuous” — going from source to
source and device to device, giving news
organizations a limited amount of time to
capture their attention.
“The advantage we had with great
journalism or great storytelling exclusives
used to be a day when we were primarily
in the print world,” said Narisetti. “It then
shrunk to a few hours when the websites
had to catch up. If you’re lucky, now it has
shrunk to two minutes.”
Narisetti says that “amazing” content is
no longer enough. The only way to catch
and keep an audience is to create compelling
experiences that keep them coming back,
such as The Wall Street Journal’s graphic
that tracked Mark Zuckerberg’s wealth in
real-time when Facebook went public or
The New York Times’ interactive Academy
Awards ballot on Facebook.
Karl Malik and Raju Narisetti
Page 19
December 2013
Job 1 for newspapers: Audience development
Alan D. Mutter is perhaps the only CEO
in Silicon Valley who knows how to set
type one letter at a time. Mutter began his
career as a newspaper columnist and editor
at the Chicago Daily News and later rose
to City Editor of the Chicago Sun-Times.
In 1984, he became No. 2 editor of the San
Francisco Chronicle. He left the newspaper
business in 1988 to join InterMedia Partners,
a start-up that became one of the largest
cable-TV companies in the U.S. Mutter was
the COO of InterMedia when he moved
to Silicon Valley in 1996 to join the first
of the three start-up companies he led as
CEO. The companies he headed were a
pioneering Internet service provider and
two enterprise-software companies. Mutter
now is a consultant specializing in corporate
initiatives and new media ventures involving
journalism and technology. He ordinarily
does not write about clients or subjects that
will affect their interests. In the rare event
he does, this will be fully disclosed. Mutter
also is on the adjunct faculty of the Graduate
School of Journalism at the University of
California at Berkeley.
While strategic audience development
ought to be the top priority at every
newspaper, efforts toward fulfilling this vital
mission are fitful and far between at many
publications. This has got to change, if the
industry intends to sustain its strength.
The bad news for newspapers, as
discussed here, is that a significant majority
of the adults in the typical community don’t
subscribe to the paper in either its print or
digital incarnations. But the flip side of this
problem is that the abundant population of
non-readers in every community represents
a substantial base of potential consumers
for the transformative and delightful new
products that publishers could bring to
market – if they put their minds to it.
For the avoidance of doubt, a static, iPadfriendly PDF of the day’s print edition does
Page 20
not, IMHO, qualify as a transformative and
satisfying digital product.
It’s not that newspapers neglect audience
building. They don’t. But their outreach is
aimed almost exclusively at capturing the
increasingly rare customer who reliably pays
for print or digital access for months, if not
years, on end. Those are great customers and
any business would be glad to have them.
But the population of steadfast loyalists
is dwindling, as modern consumers take
advantage of the digital media to customize
the news, entertainment and information they
ingest. Given shifting consumer preferences,
newspapers need to think differently, if not
to say obsessively, about how to serve – and
profit – from individuals who don’t look,
think or behave like traditional subscribers.
Unfortunately, most newspapers don’t.
Here’s why they should:
u Falling readership. Since peaking at 63.3
million subscribers in 1994 (the year before
the Internet entered the public consciousness),
weekday newspaper circulation today is 38
million to 43 million, as detailed here. Back
in 1994, 63.5% of American households
subscribed to newspapers, according to an
analysis of census data. Today, barely one in
three homes take a newspaper.
u Rising competition. Modern consumers
are hooked on the power conferred by the
digital media to pick and choose what,
where, when and how they get news and
other information. The Pew Research Center
last year found that two-thirds of Americans
visited upwards of three or more outlets to
keep up with current events. Twenty percent
of urban dwellers accessed six or more
news sources, while 11% of rural residents
consulted half a dozen or more sources.
u Demographic drift. Most young
consumers simply don’t dig newspapers,
leaving publishers with ever-older audiences
that eventually will age to extinction. The
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
at Oxford University earlier this year reported
that 55% of individuals under the age of 35
preferred the digital media as their primary
news source, as compared with 5% in the
same age category who preferred print.
Because there is no reason to believe
these trends are likely to reverse, publishers
hoping to sustain and reinvigorate their
valuable franchises need to concentrate on
finding new products and services to attract
the readers they need – and the advertisers
they want.
Newspapers can create transformative
and delightful products across the growing
range of digital platforms by leveraging their
unmatched content-creation capabilities, vast
archives, unrivaled local marketing power
and the deep commercial relationships they
possess in each of the communities they
serve.
What audiences? What products? What
platforms?
The answers to those vexing questions
will be revealed only after publishers
invest the time and money necessary to
develop thoughtful strategic plans that take
into account local market conditions, the
competitive forces arrayed around them,
and the unique strengths and weaknesses of
their respective organizations. Equipped with
well-wrought strategic plans, publishers can
invest wisely and confidently in opportunities
to attract new audiences and revenue streams.
As mission-critical as strategic planning
and audience building ought to be, these
missions fail to be accorded the priority
they deserve at many newspapers. Some
newspapers delegate “audience” to the
editor, who somehow is supposed to fix
things by intuitively producing the “right”
sort of content. Some publishers assign
audience development to the circulation
manager, who somehow is supposed to boost
subscriptions while curbing cancellations.
Some papers allocate audience development
to the marketing department, whose staffing,
research and/or promotional budgets often
are the first to be cut in moments of financial
distress. At many newspapers, these missions
aren’t even explicitly on the radar at all.
When the development of transformative
and delightful products is left largely to
chance, the outcome is unlikely to be
auspicious, because successful innovations
seldom emerge from seat-of-the pants
hunches, scattered responsibilities and
episodic tactical skirmishes.
Success requires a well-researched,
well-conceived, well-articulated and wellcommunicated strategic plan that is the
responsibility of everyone in the building.
At most newspapers, this approach not only
would be transformative but also would make
life more delightful than it has been in years.
December 2013
Media that is dynamically changing
The strategy of sitting it out, until an
innovator successfully creates the model
of the multimedia newspaper strategy,
which many can copy and experience
in advance, is now merely a very recent
memory for newspapers and magazine
publishers.
Axel Springer AG, as Europe’s largest
media corporation, quickly transformed
itself into an Internet store, where one of
the growth business areas is magazine
media and magazines of the red line
(Bild) and blue line (Die Welt). Springer
is no longer available as an exemplary
model.
The significant changes in the media industry
are challenging newspaper publishing all over
the world in hitherto unknown forms. It is all
about defining and developing new sources
of revenue in order to successfully market the
unique synergy potentials of print and multimedia,
while maintaining the greatest possible level of
economic independence in newspaper publishing.
The INMA annual congress 2013 in Berlin
provided valuable suggestions and case studies
on this topic. Best practice examples such as
the importance of the newspaper brand, reader
and advertising coverage and that turnover could
grow, more than justified the exceptionally high
visitor numbers.
The multimedia abundant society
The daily sensory overload of
permanently
transmitted
news,
researched to varying degrees of
accuracy, via the stock exchange
newbies Twitter, Google News etc. and
many other media channels available
around the clock, is one side of current
media reality.
The other side is the publication of
serious information via traceable sources
so that these are also of value. And
which the reader knows to have been
thoroughly researched and substantiated.
At the moment we are experiencing a
development, in which those companies
that have brought newspaper and other
Page 21
December 2013
print media to a state of existential crisis
through unfettered predatory journalism
then “buy” these selfsame media,
after the deed is done, at the cheapest
possible price, as in the example of the
“Washington Post” before purporting
to be the saviors of independent
newspapers.
What role does print media play in
multimedia marketing?
Print represents the main source
of revenue for newspaper media
companies. Even Springer, from now on
operating without Axel, the charismatic
newspaper legend, would not be in a
position to finance its extensive albeit
audacious Internet experiments without
the revenue from the print editions of
BILD and its line extensions.
It seems that many publishers are
more preoccupied with downsizing
journalists than being committed and
insistent about developing new media
formats.
For example, the media giant Funke
Mediengruppe courageously and with
a hefty loan of €920M, is buying the
regional
newspapers
“Hamburger
Abendblatt” and “Berliner Morgenpost”
and magazine titles from Springer,
although simultaneously incurring a
total debt of €1.4 billion by having to
pay off former shareholders. At the
same time, its own regional newspapers
are being sold off and local branch
An inspirational professional from the world of international news media: Earl J. Wilkinson
offices are being shut down. There
is more behind this unique concept
than meets the eye. It is a conundrum
why the leading European newspaper
company Springer is offloading this
line of business due to it being no
longer financially sustainable, and
Funke Mediengruppe is simultaneously
buying this media division for a very
high price.
Liza Hauwaert and Inge van Gaal, extraordinarily committed to INMA
Page 22
Daily newspaper publishers each
need to figure out for themselves what
multimedia services they can offer, with
print as the backbone of their brand.
Print offers so many supplementary
options such as printed papers, weekly
newspapers and magazines.
Whether this range is special enough
to entice the reader to buy, is not down
to the reader, but should be attributed
December 2013
to the range and to customer friendly,
marketing that improves on a daily
basis with a service range that towers
majestically above the current gaping
void of service that currently exists in
Germany.
In particular there is great untapped
potential in the regional newspapers.
So many opportunities that are not
being used for fear of an uncertain future.
Reliable payment business models
offer so many opportunities in association
with print, to cater to satisfied customers
and earn money.
The opportunities of
a hybrid media ecology
The core competencies of the
newspaper must continue to be focused
on building quality journalism. At
the end of the day this is what drives
the entire business model with an
extremely robust, economically feasible
print business model as its backbone.
Who currently still dares to argue for
the unique feel of the newspaper, the
magazine or a book?
Earl J. Wilkinson, CEO of INMA,
demonstrated this clearly in his very
convincing presentation in Berlin:
“Hybrid contents in a time of great
change in the media industry offer
the opportunity to also monetarize
added values via all possible media
channels. We are poised at the cusp of
a development, where the credibility of
the newspaper brand can be promoted
over all platforms using smart practiceoriented ideas. And it is not a question
of print or digital, but rather about the
best available media 24/7 for media
customers, regardless of whether this is
printed or digital.”
High technological availability
“The newspaper business model will
continue to be successful, if digital
media channels are also consistently
supplied with high value content,”
was the firm opinion of Nobert Ohl,
managing director of ppi Media, in
response to an informal question at
the INMA Congress in Berlin. Clearly
planned and continuously developed
multi-channel publishing enable media
companies to quickly publish a digital
version of a newspaper or a magazine,
with interactive content, on smart phones
and tablets, at a low cost.
In addition to the editorial system
media-neutral advertising management
is also becoming more important
for publishers. Particularly in the
digital media sector, many publishing
companies still work manually to a large
degree.
Why is that?
Evolution or Revolution?
EMany media companies are still
preoccupied with the exhausting and
demanding downsizing and dismissal of
employees. This leaves little time and
capacity for developing business models
that could take the company into the
future.
This regressive view creates no
advantage in the market. Germany’s
rigid and stale regulations, which cause
companies and associations to struggle
Continuing to attract young people for newspaper media: Sophia Seiderer, representative
of the Hamburger Abendblatt publishing management team.
to find flexible, fair structures for both
sectors, further restrict the freedom to
do business in a dramatically changing
media market such as news media.
Here it is about forging one’s own
future - reinforcing the newspaper brand
with a well-developed print edition
and exploring the digital distribution
channels, making oneself ever more
useful to readers and advertising
customers - and earning money for the
pleasure.
Taking advantage of opportunities everywhere, on the spot and all over
the world
Eine ungeahnte Flexibilität in der
tägAn unbelievable flexibility in daily
media work makes this possible. From
every corner of the world, wherever
Internet access is available, the editor
or the advertising sales consultant can
access a flexible system environment
and its entire functionality with a
complete customer focus. Editorial
content is edited in a media-neutral
way and content is more current than
ever in cross-media and media specific
publications - from print to online. No
matter where you are, publications are
only a mouse click away. At the same
time, the applications which are easy to
learn, remain intuitive to use.
It’s quite simply unbeatable - at the
moment anyway.
Google Glass or other
developments ruled out for now.
Nowadays we have the best systems
in the world from the preliminary
digital stage to editing, marketing of
advertising, marketing of publications,
to the integrated technology preliminary
stage, CtP, print and shipping.
In the area of advertising alfa Media
Partners with Stylo, among others, offers
a well-designed new advertising system
to meet customer requirements.
Systems are also being used in
commercial operations, which provide
information on the status of the order at
all times in the sales process, including
marketing, controlling and finally
invoicing. What more can we ask for
or wish for? In sales, presentable geomarketing models based on JJK software
etc. provide far-reaching opportunities
to optimize and manage sales structures.
These opportunities are still not being
used to their full extent. There is a valid
reason to use them more consistently.
So that newspapers can continue to
enrich our lives every day in the future.
-karma-
Page 23
December 2013
“Sporty” teamwork: red.web and MSU
announce cooperation
Koblenz-based software experts to
integrate two powerful modules produced
in Aschaffenburg into their product family
under the name “Sportal”.
Software producer red.web of Koblenz
and Aschaffenburg-based Medien-Service
Untermain GmbH (MSU) embarking on
joint project: Just in time for the World
Publishing Expo 2013, one of the most
important events for the news media industry,
the two companies signed an agreement
for cooperation. After a few days ago
Siegmund Radtke, Director of Publishing
at publisher Mittelrhein-Verlag and person
in charge of the red.web business unit and
Ulrich Eymann, Business Manager at MSU
signed agreements to this effect in Lower
Franconia, the partnership has now been
officially announced at the Berlin trade fair.
Starting immediately, the sports league tables
programme and the sports portal of MSU are
integrated into red.web product portfolio and
marketed under the name “Sportal”.
“We are extremely delighted to have
found another established partner in MSU
who is recognized in the industry”, said
Siegmund Radtke as they were signing the
agreement in Aschaffenburg. “The ‘Sportal’
is an ideal fit for our product family”, added
the person in charge of red.web. Ulrich
Eymann expressed similar sentiments: “This
cooperation with red.web as a company with
increasingly strong international operations
is a good fit for us. Our product philosophies
complement each other very well. I am
completely convinced that our cooperation
will be successful.”
It is the intent of our joint operations
to bundle the core competencies of both
companies. On the one hand, the publishing
system red.web is used by now in more than
25 newspaper and publishing companies
domestically and abroad. On the other there
are around 50 publishers using the sports
programmes of MSU. The use of their flexible
software in media companies of any size is
typical for both companies. And these two
new partners have another thing in common:
proximity to the publisher. While red.web is
a business unit of the Mittelrhein Publisher in
Koblenz, the Publisher of the Rhein-Zeitung,
MSU is a wholly owned subsidiary of the
Main-Echo publishing group. Siegmund
Radtke and Ulrich Eymann in unison: “We
know the requirements of modern newspaper
and media companies. We speak the same
language.”
The MSU sports league tables programme
offers a host of benefits: Thus, the web
application, for example, is completely
HTML5-capable and offers automated data
Page 24
imports which in turn can be processed
for a wide variety of publication channels.
Clubs, associations and external employees,
of course, are able to supply data by way of
a sophisticated rights system. More than 40
high-profile and some lesser-known types
of sports are already represented within the
powerful module: from A as in American
football to fistball, football, handball,
shooting and squash all the way to V as in
volleyball. Beyond that, the product range is
expanded by way of an attractive platform:
the Sportportal, regardless whether for
hyperlocal, trans-regional or individual
concepts.
Customers already using the sports league
tables programme developed by red.web
will soon be contacted personally with more
detailed information. At some point in the
future they will receive tried and proven
support during a smooth changeover process.
Only this much in advance: Maintenance
of the red.web sport programme is ensured
through the end of 2015.
Together into the future: Siegmund Radtke (centre, red.web) as well as Reinhard
Golembiewski (left) and Ulrich Eymann (both MSU) look forward to working together.
KBA Newspaper Printing Technology
Automatic plate changing on the
KBA Commander CL
Offset and / or Digital?
Array of printing heads on
the KBA RotaJET 76
We have both
High-tech solutions from the market leader
KBA.W.528.e
The media shift is changing newspaper production. Print runs are
getting smaller and target groups more specific. The bar is being raised
in terms of quality, productivity, flexibility and economy. New ad forms
and added value concepts are in demand. As the technology leader KBA
offers future-orientated solutions tailored to individual needs – whether
traditional offset, waterless offset or high-performance digital printing.
Any questions? Give us a call.
Koenig & Bauer AG
Tel.: +49 (0)931 909-0, kba-wuerzburg@kba.com, www.kba.com
December 2013
Newspaper Media in the United States
Struggling industry throttles newspaper metrics
Unable to arrest years of declining ad sales
and sliding print circulation, two key trade
groups representing the newspaper industry
have done the next best thing:
They effectively have stopped reporting on
the metrics that make it possible to measure –
and, therefore, understand and manage – the
industry’s ongoing challenges.
Earlier this year, the Newspaper
Association of America, an industrysupported trade organization, decided to stop
producing the quarterly revenue reports that
have charted the advertising slump that has
carved aggregate industry revenues from a
record $49.4 billion to $22.3 billion in 2012.
As reported here, my analysis shows that
ad sales slipped about 5.5% in the first six
months of the year. Assuming the industry
does no better or worse in the last half of the
year, it is on track to deliver approximately
$21 billion in ad sales for all of 2013.
The NAA, which publishes sales records
dating to 1950 here, promises to release a
once-a-year revenue report scheduled to
debut in March, 2014.
While the revenue picture may come
into greater focus next spring, a series
of changes in the way newspapers report
readership has made it impossible to
authoritatively compare ongoing changes in
circulation.
As has been customary for years,
the Alliance for Audited Media, which
formerly was known as the Audit Bureau of
Circulation, today announced the publication
of the second of its semi-annual circulation
reports. But this time, unlike all the others,
the organization gave no clue as to whether
circulation had gone up, down or sideways in
the six-month reporting period.
Because publishers no longer are
“required to report the same information,
it is not possible to come up with a macro
[circulation] number,” said Neal Lulofs,
the executive vice president of AAM in a
telephone interview.
Owing to a series of changes adopted by
the industry-funded organization over the
years, publishers no longer have to provide
a five-day average of daily circulation. They
also have the liberty of counting a woman
who reads the paper in print, on her office
computer, on her personal laptop, on her
tablet and on her smartphone as five separate
subscribers.
Some newspapers take advantage of
these options and others do not, eliminating
seemingly forever the possibility of
comparing apples-to-apples data across the
industry – or even from year to year for the
same publication, if it changes its reporting
standards over time.
Notwithstanding the limitations imposed
by the inconsistent data, a few hardy analysts
have been trying to gauge the public appetite
for print newspapers as it has declined over
the years.
One of them, Ken Goldstein of
Communications Strategies in Canada, pegs
weekday print circulation in the United States
at about 38 million copies, as compared with
the 43.4 million subscribers reported in the
Editor & Publisher Yearbook for 2012.
The E&P number, which closely matches
the last-available AAM data published this
spring, appears to include both print and
digital editions. Thus, the E&P data are not
precisely comparable to Goldstein’s estimate.
Setting aside the discrepancies in the
admittedly imperfect data, one thing is clear:
Newspaper circulation today is at, or below,
its lowest level in modern history.
The oldest available records from E&P
show that weekday newspaper circulation
averaged 41.4 million papers per day in
1940, as compared with 38 million to 43
million today. Daily circulation, btw, peaked
at 63.3 million in 1984.
But there is a big difference between 1940
and now: The population is a lot larger.
Back in 1940, newspaper penetration
actually surpassed 100% of households,
because some families took more than one
paper per day. Today, with the number of
households three times greater than in 1940,
there’s a paper in only one out of three homes.
The Sun has digital subscribers and soccer,
but the goal is hard to see
The Bun’s eagerly awaited post-paywall
numbers aren’t quite as revelatory as
Murdoch watchers were hoping
Premier league goals are a big draw for
Sun subscribers. Photograph: Paul Childs/
Action Images. The debate about subscription
paywalls around newspaper websites often
seems quasi-religious. is the Great God
Rupert right to want Sun punters to pay
for everything? Do those heretics who still
believe in free have all the best arguments?
Ah! here, after four months of silence, comes
Mr Murdoch’s beloved Bun, at last giving us
some facts to confirm the boss’s prejudices.
Page 26
Since August, when the wall went up,
117,000 readers have, one way or another,
bought the Sun+ digital package, 47% of
them signed up on mobile, 30% of them in
the precious 25-to-34 age range. So everyone
– though talking long marches – professes
themselves content. Maybe, at £2 a week, the
Bun could be drawing in £12m to £13m extra
revenue that wasn’t there last “free” July.
Nothing to sniff at here, then. But nothing
too concrete to cover over either. Mr M
wants “sustainable profitability” from his
papers, according to Wapping leadership.
That means hard sums of money, laid out
for inspection. We know (more or less) what
the Mail earns because the free Dacre Online
details its ad revenues. The coy old Bun,
though, pleads corporate-discretion-cumbundling-obfuscation. Its super goals app
cost more than £10m a year (with new social
media teams and other investment costs on
top). Hard targets are pretty hard to find.
Conclusion: the Sun shines, because
they’re saying something rather than nothing.
But keep scanning, narrow-eyed. Last July,
pre-wall, the print Bun sold an average
2,281,000 in the UK and Ireland. Last month
that was 2,089,000. Holes in the bucket – and
holes in the logic, too?
-By Peter Preston-
December 2013
Lineup Systems’ impressive growth and
technology roadmap secures future for
publishers in a turbulent market
Lineup Systems, one of the fastest
growing vendors in the fiercely competitive
advertising systems market has announced
another year of significant revenue growth
and expansion . Underpinned by major
client wins at companies such as News Corp
Australia, NewsUK and Holland’s Telegraaf
Media Groep (TMG), among others , Lineup
have achieved record growth in a market that
has been going through a major shakedown
beset by mergers, acquisitions and technology
shifts. With its multi-channel, web-based
AdPoint solution, Lineup has continued to
deliver a stable and progressive environment
for publishers wanting a future at the cutting
edge of advertising sales. AdPoint offers a
streamlined ad operation across CRM, sales,
ad booking, invoicing and analytics and has
quickly become the ‘go-to’ solution for major
publishers across the globe .
They have continued to expand through
investment in a talent acquisition programme
which ensures they are recruiting only
the highest qualified and experienced
professionals from the advertising systems
technology sector . Project management
and deployment teams have increased,
whilst there has been further expansion to
its international sales region focus across
EMEA, Scandinavia, Central Europe , US
and Australia.
“It is another excellent performance for
the company,” says Lineup Systems CEO
Michael Mendoza. “Lineup remain on an
ambitious growth path and its AdPoint
solution continues to be the product of choice
for major International publishers and we are
delighted to be working with many of them
around the world.”
“Recently we have seen moves in the
market with technology providers and
technologies changing hands which will
ultimately put doubts in the minds of some
publishers wanting to know just where their
platform and support is heading,” adds
Michael. “The AdPoint technology remains
the most advanced and agile in the market
and its development roadmap is defined and
assured. It is backed-up by the best mix of
technical knowhow and support that can be
offered and we can provide a secure future
for publishers. Lineup’s success makes us
even more committed than ever to deliver
long term value and speedy ROI for our
customers wherever they are in the world.”
vid Hall, Director Sales & Marketing lineup Systems Ltd., London
Early in 2012, Lineup announced it took
substantial (seven figure) development
capital from NVM Private Equity . This
is being invested in providing the right
capability to deliver and support major new
clients, as well as to ensure that the long term
AdPoint development plan is secured. To
help accommodate its rapid staff expansion
Lineup have also moved into new larger
US and UK offices as they build for future
business goals.
Page 27
PreMedia Newsletter English World Edition – Hall of Fame
December 2013
Hall of Fame 2013
Top Managers in dialogue with the PreMedia Newsletter
April
April
July
Axel Springer
Media Impact:
Focussing on
Digitalization and
Creativity
Dr. Dietmar Otti,
Managing Director
Axel Springer Media
Impact
July
Leader through
innovation
Vincent Peyrègne,,
CEO of WAN-IFRA
Gabriella Franzini,,
CEO, EidosMedia
July
July
WAN-IFRA Publishing Expo 2013
under the motto
of innovation
INMA: To get into
multimedia the
fundamental step:
It`s people
The mobile
platforms will
increase
Ioana Sträter,
Expo Marketing at the
World Publishing Expo
from WAN-IFRA
Earl Wilkinson,
Executive director and
CEO from the International News Media
Association
Mark Challinor,
Director of mobile
platforms from the
Telegraph Media
Group in London
October
December
The best in print
Dr. Rainer Esser,
managing director of
DvH Medien GmbH
December
manroland web
systems GmbH puts
emphasis on print
specialisation
Eckhard HörnerMaraß,
the managing director
of manroland web
systems GmbH in
Augsburg
Page 28
WAN-IFRA close
to the change of
the worldwide
Media
December
La Razón – strong
partnership with
ProtecMedia
La Razón – strong
partnership with
ProtecMedia
Miguel Ángel García,
technical director of
the newspaper „La
Razón“
Herbert Kolling,
Managing Director of
ProtecMedia Germany
Top Media Manager in the dialogue
with PreMedia Newsletter:
“Thank you very much for your most
appreciated visions and ideas for the
worldwide media industry.” Karl Malik
December 2013
HT Media, India
Dependability and performance tip the scales
With its publications Hindustan Times
and Hindustan, HT Media is one of the
big players in India’s daily newspaper
market. The two publications alone add up
to a daily total circulation of 2.3 million
copies, enabling the publisher to reach
12.4 million readers. To provide the best
possible service to a readership spread
across the entire subcontinent, the company
operates a total of 21 printing centres. At
the printing facility in Greater Noida in
the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, the
course had already been set for expanding
capacity in 2011 in order to satisfy the rising
demand for daily newspapers in the capital
New Delhi. The company has installed two
80,000-generation presses in addition to the
three existing newspaper presses.
Thanks to the positive experience gained
during the longstanding collaboration with
Ferag, the management team at HT Media
has again decided in favour of a solution
from the Swiss mailroom specialist. It was
mainly the constant, high output achieved
in combination with the existing presses
at a maximum printing speed of 90,000
copies an hour, plus the dependability of the
technology in day-to-day operations, that
tipped the scales in its favour.
At both folder deliveries on the new
presses, the daily newspapers are gripped
and transported using the UTR Universal
conveyor to the two MultiStack stackers
on each mailroom line. On arrival there,
conveniently sized bundles of the daily
newspapers are produced, tuned to the
respective route. Prior to sealing and crossstrapping, an underwrapper is fed to the
bundles and a top sheet is printed inline
with all relevant information pertaining to
distribution. So as to offer their customers
new advertising formats, both lines have
also been equipped with an application
module to apply MemoSticks to the front
page of the newspapers. When working with
Ferag, in addition to the well-engineered
technology HT Media also appreciates the
strong, local service organisation.
HT Media is one of the big players in the
Indian newspaper market.
Page 30
December 2013
Latest news from the supply industry – PreMedia Newsletter English World Edition
Mittelland Zeitungsdruck AG upgrades with
ABB production management systems
Wide range of new systems and system
upgrades
ABB, one of the leading suppliers of
automation solutions for the newspaper
industry, has announced a large order from
the MittellandZeitungsdruck AG, the print
Steve Kirk, ABB Grafische Systeme,
Schweiz
center of the AZ Medien AG in Aarau/
Switzerland, for a range of production and
workflow management systems.
The order is only partially related to the
recent order of a new KBA press for the
MittellandZeitungsdruck AG. The new
press makes an extension to the existing
press management system, ABB’s MPS
Production, a necessity, but the new order
from MittellandZeitungsdruck AG is much
larger.
MittellandZeitungsdruck AG will be
provided with a complete hardware and
software upgrade of the MPS Production
system. The newest version of the software
will be supplied together with a new
Geocluster hardware platform. This new
system will support the planning and
management of not only the new KBA press
but also of the existing Wifag press in Aarau.
The scope of supply of the MPS Production
system also includes the Online Production
Viewer, which allows production monitoring
on an iPad.
MittellandZeitungsdruck
AG
has
also ordered ABB’s MPS Cockpit, the
management system for the entire newspaper
production process. The insert management
system, MPS InsertManager, which is
already in use in Aarau, will be integrated
with the new MPS Cockpit system.
ABB’s soft-proof solution ColorCheck,
which provides a true color soft-proof
image, also convinced the team at
MittellandZeitungsdruck AG. This system
will be supplied as an extension to the KBA
control consoles.
In addition ABB will install upgrades
and extensions to the existing MPS
PlateWorkflow system, the fully automated
workflow system for the plate-making,
and also to MPS Inform, the production
information and analysis system.
UrsBinkert,
CEO
of
Mittelland
Zeitungsdruck AG says “yes, the new
press requires extensions to some of the
existing management systems, but the
positive experience that we have had with
our ABB systems have convinced us that
this much more substantial order will serve
us well.”
The first systems will be commissioned
in February 2014. The commissioning of the
remaining systems will be scheduled to fit
with the commissioning of the new press and
the needs of MittellandZeitungsdruck AG.
KBA: shrinking backlog dims 2014 outlook
One of my long-term mentors in this
industry sent me a note after reading a recent
post, saying “if orders are your number
one problem, you don’t have a number two
problem”.
Looking at KBA’s third quarter report, one
has to give the management team credit for
not only doing a good job making the most
out of a continuing difficult market situation,
but also trying to adjust to the new reality by
making strategic moves in order to add to the
core business and (maybe late but probably
not too late) addressing structural issues at
the expense of short term results.
Orders increased over the last two quarters
but are below the DRUPA year 2012. The
company still lives off its backlog of what I
believe to be an exceptionally strong order
intake of good margin specialty presses
(booked in 2011, and visible in the three
large red columns below), but eventually that
rat will have gone through the python, as the
saying goes.
Orders for the last four quarters added up
to €999.8 million. That is still a big number
for any printing equipment manufacturer, but
the last time KBA shipped less then a billion
was in 1999. Since then annual sales have
averaged €1.36 billion and topped out at
€1.74 billion in 2006.
Assuming that the reported shipment
delays are only short term issues and given
Autor: Jochen Meissner
the current adequate backlog in sheetfed and
web as well as increased inventories, the
company should be able to achieve its new
sales forecast of €1.1 billion for the year (vs.
a plan of €1.3 billion), still requiring it to ship
1/3 of annual sales in the last quarter.
However, and there is the problem,
barring a surprise order spike the backlog
will likely end up between €520 and €550
million, uncomfortably low for a billion Euro
company with an unusually wide product
portfolio, requiring special engineering
(and thus longer lead times) for many of
its orders. 2014 is going to be another
challenge.
In my August post I already mentioned the
need for further downsizing because of the
shrinking backlog. While it might have been
tempting to delay the inevitable further and
squeeze out another break-even year with
a strong fourth quarter, KBA management
is not pushing its problems into next year
hoping for a gift from the market. While it
is the right thing to do, the stock market did
not like it much.
Page 31
December 2013
ppi Media’s Web-2-Print solution OM portal and its output management system OM to be installed
Verlagsgruppe Rhein Main banks on
prepress solutions by ppi Media
For years, business with commercial
print jobs has been extremely successful at
Verlagsgruppe Rhein Main. By commissioning
ppi Media to install OM portal, the company,
which is based in Mainz, Germany, will focus
on customer integration, automation and
secure preflight workflows. This will reduce
the workload on publishing staff, yet at the
same time enable more commercial print jobs
to be processed. In order to make the system
landscape more uniform, the publishing group
has decided to install the output management
system OM at its subsidiary, the Gießener
Anzeiger. The entire group will then be
equipped with OM, which can be controlled
from a central location in future.
“By enhancing our prepress workflow, we
continue to pursue our goal of automating
the production of our print products. OM
portal will complement our existing workflow
perfectly, adding features such as a page
upload and preflight functions, as well as
real-time customer releases and feedback,”
says Andreas Bräuer, Director of Prepress
Production at MRM Medienservice Rhein
Main. Integrating our customers to a greater
extent makes our workflow more flexible,
which in turn is an important prerequisite
for processing commercial print jobs more
economically.
Apart from installing OM portal at the
publishing group, ppi Media will also
supply new software to the Gießener
Anzeiger. From 2014 onwards, OM will be
used there for output management, which
includes the RIP, merge, imaging and
proof functions.
OM portal organizes, visualizes and
simplifies the planning and production of jobs
for print customers in a single web application.
Using OM portal, customers can view their
orders at the printing house and then issue
a planning release. After a release, the PDF
files are uploaded and the data automatically
checked and normalized. An online soft
proof is then created, where customers can
download both the check protocols and the
normalized print data. When the print data has
been checked, customers can then approve the
print data and release the commercial print job
for printing.
Verlagsgruppe Rhein Main banks on prepress solutions by ppi Media
The Boston Globe signs for Integrated Advertising,
Production and Business System from Miles 33
Miles 33 International, LLC, a world leader in Advertising and Content Management
Systems for traditional and new media companies is proud to announce it has been selected by The Boston Globe to implement an
integrated advertising and business system.
The project will see the implementation of
a fully integrated digital and print ad sales,
Page 32
self-service ad portal, print pagination and
ROP layout, digital and print ad tracking &
production management, invoicing, credit
management and A/R system.
Miles 33 is proud to be associated with
such a storied franchise in American newspaper history and looks forward to a long and
mutually beneficial relationship. Installation
services are intended to begin immediately
after the US Thanksgiving Day holiday; the
entire system is scheduled to be live in midsummer 2014.
For more information please contact Don
Sullivan, Sr. Vice President of Sales for
Miles 33 in North America at dsullivan@
miles33.com.
Merry Christmas
With these Christmas Greetings
we would like to thank you for
an enjoyable working relationship
and wish you the best of health, happiness
and success for the coming New Year 2014
Your PreMedia Newsletter
December 2013
KBA acquires majority stake in agency Deltagraf
New sales company Koenig & Bauer
do Brasil in Sao Paulo
Since the beginning of September
2013 Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) has
acquired the majority stake in its former
sales agency Deltagraf Representações
Comerciais ltda. in São Paulo, Brazil,
Latin America’s largest market.
The new Brazilian subsidiary operates
under the name Koenig & Bauer do Brasil.
This follows the foundation of KBA
Latina SAPI de CV based in Mexico city
in August 2012 for the markets Mexico,
Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru
and Bolivia.
As the world’s second-largest press
manufacturer, KBA aims to expand its
position in the growth market Brazil with this
investment in sales and service. In addition,
the change of name signals the long-term
commitment to the customers there. “It is our
goal to continually strengthen our presence
in Brazil,” explains KBA sales director Jan
Drechsel.
Deltagraf took over all sales and service
activities for KBA web presses in Brazil six
years ago, and added sheetfed presses in
March 2009. The company has since been
very successful in both segments. The firms
Oceano und Editora Abril print on several 16and 48-page Compacta commercial presses
as well as single-width Comet newspaper
presses. Brasilgrafica, the largest Brazilian
packaging printer, has two high-performance
KBA Rapida 106 sheetfed presses, a plinth-
mounted eight-colour press with two coaters
as well as an eight-colour Rapida 106 with
coater. Atualcard, one of the biggest internet
printers in Brazil, received two Rapida 105
presses, one in the middle of 2012 and the
other at the beginning of this year. Deltagraf
has also landed further contracts with some
other major printers, such as Emibra, Rosni
and Grafica Rami.
Koenig & Bauer do Brasil will continue
to expand its service network step by step.
The newest KBA subsidiary will also offer
service support to printing firms in Argentina,
Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay. Managing
director Luiz Cesar Dutra has over 20 years
of experience in the graphic arts industry.
Service manager Sigfried Köstlein, sales
manager Lincoln Lopez, finance director
Fernando Maia and a well-trained 20-man
team are on hand to assist him.
In July 2014 Koenig & Bauer do Brasil
will take part in Expoprint Latin America in
São Paulo presenting cutting-edge printing
technology.
At the beginning of September KBA deputy president Dr. Axel Kaufmann (r), Deltagraf
managing director Luiz Caesar Dutra and KBA sales director Jan Drechsel (l) announced
the foundation of Brazilian sales subsidiary Koenig & Bauer do Brasil
Goss press is ideal platform for expansion from newspaper-only production
Beijing Daily moves into commercial printing
with China’s first Goss M-800 web press
Beijing Daily has installed a new heatset Goss web press as part of a
strategy to diversify beyond its well-established newspaper production.
In choosing the 32-page Goss M-800 press, the company has signaled
its intention to become a leading player in its regional commercial
print market. Featuring a four-pages-around by four-pages-across
(4x4) cylinder configuration, the M-800 model is capable of printing
up to 80,000 16-page signatures per hour in straight production mode.
The four-unit press system also incorporates a Goss Ecocool heatset
dryer and Contiweb FD paster, as well as a Goss PCC-2 pinless folder.
Previously running an exclusively coldset operation, Beijing Daily
produces more than 2 million newspapers daily and its entry into the
Page 34
commercial market is expected to reach a similar scale over time.
According to Jia Fudong, vice director for the Beijing Daily printing
operation, the M-800 model was chosen with production versatility
in mind.
“The new press has already been called on to produce a wide
range of products and formats,” explains Jia Fudong. “Demand for
commercial products and heatset retail inserts continues to increase
alongside quality expectations in our region, so we’re very pleased
that we decided to go with the clear leader in web press technology
for this important step. Goss International’s position is well deserved,
not only because they have supplied precisely the right capabilities
December 2013
for our production requirements, but also because the technology is
backed up with a level of local support that ensures our long-term
confidence.” The double-circumference M-800 press utilizes proven
With the installation of a new 32-page Goss M-800 heatset web
press, the Beijing Daily has signaled its intention to become a
leading player in the regional commercial print market.
design elements from other Goss presses, including Sunday models,
to achieve a unique combination of value and performance. Multidrive
technology, bearerless cylinders and a 12-roll inking and dampening
system deliver premium print quality as well as a high level of
flexibility for changing production requirements.
Tim Mercy, vice president of sales for Goss International, says
the ability to print magazine, tabloid and other formats in straight or
collect mode makes the M-800 model ideal for a company embarking
on a new venture. “Beijing Daily needed a press that could adapt
in line with the way the new business develops, while at the same
time being able to maintain the high standards expected due to its
established reputation for both product content and quality. This is
also an excellent option for commercial printers looking to expand
their existing operation as its four-around press format complements
existing two-around presses such as Goss M-600 and M-500 models,”
he adds. Beijing Daily is part of the Beijing Daily Group, a media
company that manages nine newspapers and three magazines as well
as web sites, a publishing house and a television broadcasting station.
The Group publishes the leading circulation newspapers in the area,
including Beijing Daily, Beijing Evening News, Beijing Morning Post
and Beijing Suburbs Daily.
Fairfax Media Ltd., Australia, New Zealand
A fitness program for the newspaper
Decentralization of production should
help lower production costs by around 60
percent. “ We have reorganized the products
within the group in order to optimize our
line utilization”, says Bob Lockley, Group
Director Print & Distribution at Fairfax
Media.
Thanks to the decentralization project,
Fairfax is also reshuffling its cards in the
mailroom. Ferag is supporting Fairfax
with this project and integrating existing
components from Tullamarine into the
facilities in Canberra, North Richmond and
Newcastle in Australia, and also into the
two New Zealand sites in Wellington and
Auckland. It’s mainly the integration of the
MultiDisc winding systems and the MSD
MultiSertDrum inserting drums that will give
the separate locations greater flexibility and
enable them to cope with higher production
volumes and tighter deadlines.
Integration of the separate components had
already begun in the spring of 2013, and all
work was accomplished with no interruptions
to production. Here, Ferag can bring to
bear its experience in the area of project
management and equipment manufacturing,
and thus ensure that integration is problemfree. Balancing of the components’ control
software can also be necessary, which Ferag
enables across several system generations
‒ thus underlining once again the fact that
the company takes investment security
seriously..
“The regional facilities are an important
step in securing the future of our titles.”
Bob Lockley, Group Director Print & Distribution.
Australian media group Fairfax Media
Limited is adapting newspaper production
to changing conditions. A decentralization
concept is set to realign capacity in the
press hall and in the mailroom. In June
2014, two printing facilities, Chullora near
Sydney and Tullamarine near Melbourne,
will close and production will be transferred
to the Ballarat site, west of Melbourne, and
North Richmond, to the north of Sydney.
As part of the decentralization project, the facility in North Richmond is being
extended.
Page 35
December 2013
VPM Druck, Germany
Boosting efficiency, minimizing set-up times
The Ferag UniDrum gatherer-stitcher drum is delivered to VPM Druck and taken to the
second floor of the building for installation.
VPM Druck KG in Rastatt, a fully owned
subsidiary of the Bauer Media Group, has
recently invested in new gatherer-stitcher
technology from Ferag. The existing
Ferag technology dating from 1992 had
been in use for far longer than planned,
and the time had come to replace it. A
further reason: the old technology was no
longer sufficiently flexible, and the set-up
times were therefore too long. Moreover,
the trend towards low circulations is
increasingly evident.
From the initial brainstorming sessions to
actual realization, the project to invest in a
new gatherer-stitcher installation and press
deliveries lasted almost three years. Product
sales patterns demanded a completely new
concept. The installation commenced at the
beginning of May 2013 and was concluded
at VPM Druck with no breaks in production.
Impressive volumes of magazines and periodicals are processed
at VPM Druck.
Page 36
Commissioning was complete by the start
of September 2013. Apart from a Rima log
delivery system, the installation comprises a
Ferag UniDrum gatherer stitcher drum with
six JetFeeder hoppers, an EasySert inserting
system with three JetFeeder supplement
hoppers and an SNT-50 trimming drum ‒
all from Ferag. At VPM Druck, the newly
developed Unicover cover hopper is being
integrated into a live production line for the
first time. On the UniCover cover hopper,
sheets are creased, folded and fed to the
UniDrum as covers at speeds up to 40,000
copies an hour. The new UniCover reduces
the number of production steps, and therefore
personnel costs..
PreTronic fully automatic format
presetting from Ferag is a further function
of the new installation and helps meet the
requirement for fast set-up times. Thanks
to the PreTronic control, the changeover
from one job to the next is accomplished
in a just few minutes. The new Ferag
installation reduces the previous set-up
time of two to four hours per job down to
30 minutes.
The core business of VPM Druck, a
specialist in sheet and web offset, and its 190
employees is the production of magazines
and supplements, and also catalogues,
brochures, booklets and sticker flyers, for
well-known customers. Circulations range
between 10,000 and over a million copies,
depending on the job. Each year, up to 120
million stitching operations are performed at
VPM Druck.
A Ferag engineer makes precision adjustments to the UniCover
cover hopper (on right).
December 2013
ABB to retrofit Wifag
OF370 press at La
Nacion, Buenos Aires
ABB, one of the leading suppliers of automation solutions for the
newspaper industry, has announced a major order from “La Nacion”,
the leading Argentinian newspaper based in Buenos Aires, for drives
and controls retrofits on their Wifag OF370 press. La Nacion is the
latest in a long line of newspaper houses that has chosen ABB’s
APOS solution to replace obsolete proprietary control and positioning
systems on their press. ABB will install its APOS solution on six
printing towers and one folder. A drives retrofit will also be carried out
on these units. In addition, ABB will supply new drives and control
systems for nine Wifagreelstands at the Buenos Aires site.
The project will be carried out in close cooperation between the
ABB organizations in Argentina and Switzerland. “ABB’s strong
local presence in Argentina and the cooperation between the two parts
of the ABB organization were decisive in winning this order,” says
Christian Villiger, head of ABB’s activities in the printing business. “It
is another example of the advantages of ABB’s global footprint.” The
commissioning of the upgrades will be performed in parallel with the
daily production on the press in order to avoid any downtime and will
be completed by August 2014.
Service Secures Future.
print.services spans the entire service range of manroland web systems.
This means comprehensive support – from our classic repair service and
maintenance to training, process optimization, and pressupdate solutions.
print.competence expands this range: custom, needs-based service packages to increase productivity. The combination of data management,
process optimization, consumables, and training yields sustainable and
measurable results.
manroland web systems GmbH, Augsburg.
Soon with new ABB controls and drives – the Wifag OF370 in
Buenos Aires
www.manroland-web.com
Page 37
December 2013
With MILENIUM we have reduced the
working time in the editorial area by
at least one hour
as using other press settings or a different
printing press.”
All of these improvements translate into
tangible benefits, such as the time required
in the different phases for the preparation of
the newspaper. “We have reduced production
time and, in particular, we have reduced the
time spent in the editorial area by at least
one hour. We have also reduced errors in the
production area, particularly with respect to
the flatplan,” explains René Di Marco.
MILENIUM’s simplicity of use has also
made its implementation easier and meant
that the Vanguardia Liberal has hardly
noted the change of system: “In less than a
week all of those working on the newspaper
had adapted very well to the new tool and
were able to start getting the most out of it.”
Picture left: Raquel Asenjo
Picture down: F
ernando Gomez, CEO
Protec Media
The newspaper Vanguardia Liberal, part
of the Colombian group Galvis Ramírez,
decided to carry out an overhaul of its
editorial system and, with this in mind, chose
MILENIUM in its search for a modern
convergent newsroom so that it could face,
fully prepared, the current challenges in the
sector.
After
having
carried
out
the
implementation, it is time to evaluate the
experiences with the new solution. René
Di Marco, technical director of Vanguardia
Liberal, is clear about the improvements that
MILENIUM has brought to the newspaper’s
day-to-day work: “It is a very useful tool
in the production area of the newspaper.
It greatly improves and facilitates the
production of all printed products.”
But the benefits are not only felt in
the production area. “A major plus is the
ease with which advertisements can be
handled, from our own advertising program,
including the automatic placement of
pages,” points out Di Marco, who also
praises the flexibility of MILENIUM:
“The ease with which last-minute changes
can be made to the production area, such
Page 38
December 2013
Profit and the compatibility concept
Dependability is the one attribute that
I-print Oy Managing Director Seppo Lahti
associates with Ferag technology. He points
to the mailroom system, which has coped
with routine production conditions for all of
15 years. Despite the resilient technology, an
update was on the cards, and a few months
ago the stacking system dating from 1998
was replaced with modern MultiStack
technology.
The compensating stackers are fully
integrated into the existing technical
structures incorporating the TTR conveyor
system. The compatibility of the Ferag system
from one generation to the next meant that
modernization could be focused precisely
where it was really needed; investment could
be kept as low as possible; and production
equipment could be put to profitable use for
further years.
Without being too provocative, it could be
said that I-print Oy had no other choice than
MultiStack technology from Ferag. “There
was never any discussion about it. There is
no reason to change the very supplier that
we have worked with so well and so closely
for all these years. Apart from the fact that
with MultiStack technology, we obtained an
excellent product at a fair price that will allow
us to keep our future options open, we also
appreciate the solution-oriented approach
adopted by the team from Ferag AG and its
subsidiary Ferag Suomi Oy in order to take
full account of the wishes and needs of their
customers”, says Seppo Lahti.
“We appreciate the solution-oriented approach adopted by the team from Ferag AG and
its subsidiary Ferag Suomi Oy”, says Managing Director Seppo Lahti.
Management change at ABB Printing
ABB, one of the leading suppliers of
automation solutions for the newspaper
industry, has announced a change in the
management team of its printing organization.
Christian Villiger (right) congratulates his successor as head of ABB Printing, Markus Greiner
Markus Greiner will take over the leadership
of ABB Printing from December 1.
Markus Greiner is a long-term member
of the ABB Printing management team. He
was head of development since the beginning
of 2007, which followed a two year stint as
head of sales. The computer science graduate
with 10 years of experience in the newspaper
industry replaces Christian Villiger, who
is taking up a new challenge outside the
company. Markus Greiner will also take on
the role of head of sales as replacement for
Boris Falk, who is taking up a senior position
within the Mediengruppe Pressedruck
Augsburg in Germany.
Greiner’s
immediate
reaction
on
his appointments was to thank his two
predecessors. “Both Christian Villiger and
Boris Falk have done an excellent job steering
ABB Printing through the stormy seas that
our industry has experienced in the last few
years. Today’s solid financial position of
ABB Printing would not have been possible
without their tremendous efforts”.
Page 39
December 2013
World’s first 160-page LITHOMAN
begins operation
The world’s largest heatset commercial
press from manroland web systems
began operation on schedule at KraftSchlötels, part of the WKS Druckholding
Group, in Wassenberg, Germany.
At the drupa in May 2012, WKS
Druckholding and manroland web systems
set up a joint project to create the “world’s
largest heatset commercial press”. Around 18
months later, on November 13, 2013, the idea
has become reality: the two-web 80-page
LITHOMAN demonstrated its performance
to customers, suppliers, media, and guests
invited from the worlds of politics and
business at Kraft-Schlötels in Wassenberg.
“For this project, we approached the press
technology purely from the perspective of
our customers. We intensively analyzed our
customers’ needs regarding the flexibility of
page numbers, formats, and product design,
and tried to implement them as far as possible.
As a result, a press was developed, which, on
the one hand, consists of conventional press
components that have never before combined
in this way (two-web 80-page press). On
the other hand, we also devised our own
conceptions on folding technology that have
given rise to extensive new designs at press
supplier companies. Our new LITHOMAN
press design now reflects our technological
concepts regarding flexible and economic
production.” Dr. Ralph Dittmann, Manager
of WKS, was obviously impressed by the
160-page LITHOMAN press at its official
start of production.
WKS is one of the leading web offset
companies in Germany and consistently
orients itself toward customer needs. As
a leader in innovation, the printing house
has once again relied on Augsburg press
technology: “The LITHOMAN presses
have absolutely proven themselves in daily
operation when it comes to printing stability,
quality, and, above all, productivity.”
Eckhard Hoerner-Marass, Managing
Director of manroland web systems,
emphasized the excellent cooperation with
the immensely committed WKS specialists:
“WKS had very clear ideas on production
diversity and the resulting demands on the
production process. Our colleagues from
sales and design collaborated with WKS in
a creative process to draft the press concept.
The result: a unique LITHOMAN press with
customized technology.”
Extraordinary configuration
An excellent team manroland web systems, WKS and the new LITHOMAN with 160page press in the production network – a brilliant feat of engineering excellence and
entrepreneurial achievement.
|© manroland web systems
Page 40
WKS now produces at sites in Wassenberg
and Essen with eight manroland web
systems commercial web offset presses
ranging from 32 to 80 pages. As part of the
current investment, several older systems
were decommissioned. The two-web 80page LITHOMAN with a total of web
width of 4.5 meters is the equivalent of
a 160-page press. As a result, it sets the
benchmark for maximum productivity,
producing up to 50,000 revolutions per
hour. This LITHOMAN is something truly
extraordinary for everyone involved. It
features ultimate automation: in addition to
the fully-automatic AutomaticPlateLoading
APL®, the ClosedLoop systems developed
by manroland to control inline fanout,
color, and cut-off registers have also been
integrated. These features optimize effective
machine operation and reduce waste.
The LITHOMAN will mainly be used
to produce magazines, catalogs, and
supplements. Veit Müller, Executive Sales
Manager at manroland web systems,
explains the significance of 160-pages in the
production network: “The two LITHOMAN
presses are operated together since they are
equipped with one cutter module. This module
was adapted to our customer WKS’ ideas
and provides completely new production
options. In addition, the newly designed
folder superstructure with three formers
allows operators to run over up to twelve
December 2013
paper ribbons. This combination results into
a previously undreamt-of productivity and
product options. Buzzwords like continuous
two-page increments, complete flexibility in
register products, a combination of two paper
types, up to 500,000 products per hour, and
format variability have suddenly become
reality.”
Now, we have managed to perfectly
supplement our range of offerings and
provide our customers with tailored, highly
efficient press concepts, even for demands
such as extremely large print runs and format
variability.”
Combining the advantages of
different commercial printing
processes
In the past, web offset printing already
offered a wide range of production options.
With this extensive development step now
completed, Eckhard Hoerner-Marass sees
manroland web systems considers well
prepared for the future: “manroland web
systems now offers presses ranging from
16-pages to 160-pages for commercial web
printing. We have already completely filled
the fields of high quality, cost-effective and
quick printing form production, as well as
maximum flexibility and productivity with
our web offset presses for small, medium,
and large runs.
November 13, 2013, was the official start of production. (f. left: Dr. Ralph Dittmann, WKS /
Bert Schoonderbeek, Contiweb / Eugen Viehof, Vibro-Gruppe / Manfred Winkens, Major
Wassenberg / Klaus Viehof, Vibro-Gruppe / Eckhard Hoerner-Marass, manroland web
systems)
|© manroland web systems
CCI to buy Escenic – the perfect match
CCI, known among the world’s
largest media companies as a provider of
multichannel publishing software solutions,
is now strengthening its position through the
acquisition of Escenic from Vizrt. CCI and
Vizrt have been strategic partners for the past
six years, and have signed an agreement that
also allows Vizrt to continue selling Escenic
products as an integral part of its overall
solutions offering.
“This is the perfect match. Escenic is an
important part of our business, due to its
Dan Karsgaard, CEO, CCI Europe
strong expertise in online publishing. CCI
and Vizrt have enjoyed a great cooperation
during the last 6 years, and we have been
able to provide the best of bread solutions
to the news industry as a direct result of
this partnership. The latest example is the
corporate-wide CCI NewsGate editorial
and Escenic online solution to McClatchy
in the US. This acquisition is a natural next
step in the close cooperation between our
companies, “said Dan Korsgaard, CEO of
CCI.
“For CCI customers this offers a complete
publishing solution provided by a single
vendor. For Escenic-only customers we
will not only continue to offer Escenic
as a standalone system, but also offer the
additional benefit of being serviced by a
larger professional services organization“
Korsgaard continues.
Martin Burkhalter, CEO of Vizrt, stated,
“We are pleased with the signing of this
agreement.
We are convinced of the
importance of the Escenic product range
for our customers, and we will continue to
provide fully integrated solutions, which
form an important part of our sales strategy.
We will continue to meet current and
future challenges and opportunities that our
customers are facing in the implementation
of their multiplatform distribution strategy.
Considering the dynamics in Escenic’s core
markets, we believe that CCI, which is highly
focused on the online market place, provides
a great platform for Escenic to ensure future
growth.”
Both companies are committed to ensure
that current and potential Escenic and Vizrt
customers will continue to receive the highest
level of service.
Vizrt and CCI have also agreed that
CCI will sell and implement the Viz Media
Engine (VME) video solution, further
cementing the strong relationship between
the two companies.
Page 41
December 2013
Letter of intent signed at the World Publishing Expo 2013
WESTFALEN-BLATT opts for ppi Media
The World Publishing Expo has, once again, proven a successful
business platform for ppi Media, the software supplier based
in Hamburg, Germany. On Montag, October 7, 2013, Thilo
Grickschat and Frank Best, managing directors of WESTFALENBLATT, signed a letter of intent for new solutions for its
newspaper planning, page production, classified pagination and
ad production workflows.
The decision in favor of ppi Media went hand in hand with the
decision to modernize and reorganize WESTFALEN-BLATT’s 27 local
editions. “ppi Media’s solutions will create a cost-effective, yet highly
automated planning and production workflow, and the existing system
will be optimally integrated. We are creating an optimal platform for
all our workflows and departments, for future optimization as well,
since ppi Media offers open solutions of guaranteed quality,” said
Thilo Grickschat, managing director of Vereinigte Zeitungsverlage
GmbH in Bielefeld.
At the heart of the new production workflow, PlanPag will be used
for planning and production, including page assembly. It will also
connect to the ad booking system – via AdMan – and to the editorial
system using standard interfaces.
the alfa Stylo editor integrated in AdMan. This web-based ad editor
runs on the AdMan GUI, enabling users to create liner and display ads
easily and quickly. AdMan creates logos, a large number of different
backgrounds and text blocks for designing ad layouts. Fonts and
quotations (in particular for personal ads) are managed in data pools
in Stylo.
In the new workflow, classified ads can already be paginated on the
basis of the booking data for ad pages. Production data that has been
delivered or created in Stylo is placed automatically. The ad deadline
can be moved forward to just before printing starts.
Automated ad production
A system that automatically receives and assigns digitally delivered
ads, whose formats are becoming increasingly diverse for print and
digital, is important for making the publishing company competitive in
the future. AdMan will ensure the highly automated electronic delivery
of ads and integration of the ad booking system (WESTFALENBLATT’s in-house solution). WESTFALEN-BLATT has also ordered
Get together in Berlin at World Publishing Expo 2013: Norbert Ohl
(CEO, ppi Media), Frank Best (Managing Director, WESTFALEN
BLATT), Thilo Grickschat (Managing Director, WESTFALEN BLATT),
Dr. Hauke Berndt (Senior Vices President Sales, ppi Media)
Total upgrade in St. Galler Rheintal
The new RollSertDrum-M has a third infeed for one preprint in addition to the connections for the main product and the FlyStream
precollecting line.
Page 42
Under Südostschweiz Partner AG, five publishers from the
Rheintal, Principality of Liechtenstein, Grisons, Sarganserland and
Glarus regions, and also Werdenberg and Obertoggenburg operate a
joint printing centre in Haag in the St. Galler Rheintal. In the last seven
years, Ferag technology has been in operation with some components
being more than 30 years old. The time had come to change to new
technology. In seven conversion phases, it was replaced by two Ferag
inserting lines equipped with FlyStream and the latest MultiDisc
periphery.
In the postpress processing system the new RollSertDrum-M will
be up and running for the first time. Compared with its smaller sisters,
the inserting drum is equipped with a third feed for a preprint in
addition to the connections for the main product and the FlyStream
precollecting line. As a further new component, a transfer circulator
links two independent UTR conveyors and enables the product stream
to be assigned to two different processing steps during the conveying
process. In the Haag printing centre, the transfer circulator is integrated
into the line downstream from each inserting drum. Accordingly, it is
possible to take either newspapers without inserts or finished products
after they have passed through the RollSertDrum, and transport them
directly to the winding process or bundling. In the specifications,
such flexibility had equal ranking with the option to run inserting
production in online and offline mode.
My work - your success!
VAKAT
Multimedia-Marketing
–P
roject planning and project
implementation responsibility
– Due diligence analysis
– Investment planning
– Coaching the top management
Prof. Ing. Karl Malik Media Consultancy International
Karl.Malik@malik-consulting.de
www.malik-consulting.de
Phone 0049.(0)6223.74757
Fax 0049. (0)6223.74139
December 2013
KBA at the World Publishing Expo 2013 in Berlin
Offset and inkjet newspaper printing
from one source
In 2012 Koenig & Bauer (KBA) won
almost 40% of all contracts for new newspaper
web presses awarded by the international
newspaper industry and this year it is over
40%. Despite this high market share, the
volume of new investments in newspaper
printing technology which has shrunk by
over 70% since 2006 to under €300m is
not enough to fill the global market leader’s
already significantly reduced capacity. In
the KBA press conference at the World
Publishing Expo (WPE) in Berlin KBA CEO
and president Claus Bolza-Schünemann
pointed out that the market revival for new
newspaper technology expected in 2010 did
not occur due to structural and economic
reasons (media shift, Euro crisis). He also
said that given media developments, trends
towards concentration and realignment in
the newspaper industry, suppliers should be
prepared for a continued moderate decline in
investments in new offset presses, prepress
and mailroom technology, rather than a
significant recovery.
According to the latest market analyses,
sales of new commercial and newspaper
presses (not including used presses, service
KBA with a wide product range, well prepared to the global market requirements:
Dr. Klaus Schmidt talking to Karl Malik
and consumables) in the supply industry fell
to €630m in 2012 after a short-lived rise in
2010 to €800m. This is following sales of
€1.7bn in 2007 and a low of €600m in the
crisis year 2009. KBA is expecting a further
decline to approx. €500m for 2013. It is
assumed that yearly investments in new web
offset technology will bottom out to approx.
€400m by 2015. Against this background,
Bolza-Schünemann
views
previous
reductions in capacity on the suppliers’ side
as not yet satisfactory and in line with market
developments.
Additional business with
inkjet digital printing
KBA offers newspaper printers an industrial solution for digital newspaper printing with
the high-speed RotaJET inkjet web press in addition to its proven offset portfolio
Page 44
Along with further capacity adjustments,
KBA aims to compensate as much as
possible for the lower sales of new web
offset presses with more service activities, a
broader portfolio for the growing packaging
printing and the new business field digital
printing. With this in mind, KBA has
expanded its proven and innovative offset
product range for the newspaper industry
with the KBA RotaJET digital press, which
has shaped KBA’s stand in Berlin and was
present in the Digital Pavilion set up in the
December 2013
“Power of Print” media port. According
to Bolza-Schünemann two RotaJETs have
already been sold in other market segments
and KBA is receiving increasing interest
from the newspaper industry, as well as
from the book, direct mail and commercial
printing sectors which the press initially
addressed. Bolza-Schünemann: “The KBA
RotaJET is the only inkjet web press from a
traditional offset press manufacturer. We have
been an innovative partner of the newspaper
industry for nearly 200 years and know
its demands better than any other digital
printing suppliers who have predominantly
grown up in the office area. We want
to use the trust placed in us to show the
industry new business possibilities in
connection with the KBA RotaJET. As we
offer both offset and digital printing, we
can be particularly objective. The respective
production structure and the cost-efficiency
of a possible implementation of digital
printing form the basis of our investment
advice.”
Oliver Baar, KBA project manager for
business development digital web presses
expanded on the words of the KBA CEO
about digital newspaper printing. In a slightly
provocative manner, he compared the
newspaper industry with a tree on which the
sweet, but not yet overripe fruit, hang from
branches in the middle or at the very top. While
today’s newspaper and supplement business
only offer limited market potential, Baar sees
World Publishing Expo 2013 – Special Report
sustainable and profitable additional business
options in digital printing. These include
even more consistent target group orientated
newspapers (hyper-localization or special
interest small runs), expanding product
portfolios to strengthen reader and customer
loyalty, and addressing new customer bases
as well as the very flexible linking of print
and online media. In this context, Oliver
Baar quoted the American financial investor
Warren Buffett who bucked the trend by
purchasing over 30 regional and local titles.
Buffett criticises the one-sided, cost-saving
strategy of the American newspaper industry
at the expense of contents or the frequency
of publications. Baar named the Canadian
Glacier Media Commercial newspaper
group as a further example. The group
has successfully implemented AR codes
in all of its editions linking print with the
digital world (online videos as an addition).
In the meantime Die Welt and Focus in
Germany have also started to work in
similar ways.
Interesting option: Offset and digital
printing in tandem
Oliver Baar sees further ‘fruit’ hanging
in the middle of the tree from retrofitting
inkjet imprinting systems (currently
Kodak Prosper S30) in offset web presses
for the production of coupons, games and
addresses. KBA has already carried out
The flexibly automatable KBA Commander CL dominates demand of new presses in
Germany and Europe with ten press lines ordered so far
such inkjet retrofits. One step further is
the combined use of older offset presses,
for example a KBA Colora and an inkjet
web press, like the KBA RotaJET. Digital
printing could be used for highly localized
production scenarios (microzoning) in
newspapers as well as the format-variable
production of additional print products
on diverse substrates for readers and ad
customers. Traditional business models in
the newspaper industry can be expanded in
this way and the process costs of small runs
are significantly reduced. While in the offset
sector predominantly newspaper, commercial
web and sheetfed offset presses are used to
produce newspapers, semi-commercials,
books, magazines and commercial products,
the KBA RotaJET addresses small print runs
in all these market segments and opens up
new business opportunities.
Cutting-edge offset technology
currently popular in Europe
Even though KBA has expanded its
portfolio with the RotaJET for digital
newspaper printing, according to experts
high-performance offset presses will continue
to dominate newspaper production in the
next years. As Christoph Müller executive
vice president for the web press product
house reported, KBA has notably booked
orders for the new modular automatable
Commander CL following the marketorientated streamlining of its product range
two years ago. Since its launch at IfraExpo
2011 in Vienna, ten of these press lines have
been sold to Europe, the USA and China. In
2013 Ouest-France in Rennes, Pressedruck
in Potsdam and Main-Echo in Aschaffenburg
have all opted for this latest KBA newspaper
press. In the high-end class the compact
Commander CT continues to be by far the
most successful press on the global market.
27 presses with a total of 124 printing towers
and almost 1,000 printing couples are on its
reference list. A few weeks ago Badisches
Druckhaus in Baden-Baden and Mittelland
Zeitungsdruck in Aarau, Switzerland became
the most recent customers to opt for this
press.
The waterless KBA Cortina, which also
introduced automated plate changing to
the newspaper industry, was the subject of
great interest at Drupa thirteen years ago. It
has experienced a renaissance in 2013. The
Volksfreund-Druckerei Nikolaus Koch in
Trier (Saarbrücker Zeitungsgruppe) brought
the total of sold Cortina press lines to 20
and it is the first press to be equipped from
the beginning with two coaters, following
the positive experience made by Freiburger
Druck (Badische Zeitung). This type of
inline finishing in coldset is currently only
possible in waterless offset with the Cortina.
It delivers print products in an outstanding
Page 45
December 2013
print quality, as could be seen from the
samples shown in Berlin.
Service and retrofits
gaining importance
Christoph Müller emphasised that
newspapers should use their acknowledged
role as a strong brand even more intensively
for complementary print activities. This
includes creative ad forms in print.
KBA offers manifold, partly retrofittable
optional equipment and has expanded its
service portfolio accordingly. Along with
maintenance tasks and repairs, experienced
professionals from KBA and its subsidiary
PrintHouseService
(PHS)
carry
out
increasingly more retrofits on older own or
third-party presses. In addition, KBA and
PHS have taken over comprehensive on-site
technical support at various newspaper and
commercial printing houses.
Through its subsidiary PrintHouseService (PHS) KBA takes over the complete technical
support in newspaper and commercial printing houses with on-site personnel
How NPR lures younger digital audiences
The people who listen to NPR are a lot
like those who read newspapers. They tend
to be wealthier, better educated and more
thoughtful than the population as whole.
And, like newspaper readers, they are older
than the broader population, too.
But there’s one major difference between
NPR and most newspapers: The managers
at NPR have moved aggressively to create
differentiated digital products to attract new,
and significantly younger, audiences than
their traditional radio listeners. In a moment,
we’ll take a look at how they did it. First, let’s
look at how well they did:
While the median age of the NPR radio
audience is 49, the median age of its web
visitors is 40 and the median age of its
podcast users is 36, according to a survey
published on its website. This compares to
the national median age of 38.
The age differences across the NPR media
result from the fact that each platform attracts
its own, distinct following. While 18% of
web visitors tune in to NPR radio, only 12%
of radio listeners visit the website, according
to the audience survey.
The podcast service, which serves nearly
25 million downloads a month, delivers
the added bonus of encouraging two-thirds
of its relatively young listeners to listen to
radio broadcasts at least once a week. While
there’s no way of knowing if podcast users
will turn into lifelong radioheads, it’s better
for NPR to have them periodically engaging
with the legacy platform than iTuning it out
altogether. Now, let’s look at the newspaper
industry, where the story is not as bright.
The median age of a typical newspaper
print reader is 58 and the average age of a
Page 46
news website reader is 49, says Greg Harmon
of Borrell Associates who has surveyed users
at scores of newspapers for more than a
decade. “These audiences,” said Harmon in
an interview, “get a year older every year.”
Another long-time industry watcher,
Andrew Kohut of the Pew Research Center,
reported in October that people under the
age of 50 spend notably less time perusing
the news each day than their elders. After
studying news consumption for a decade
across every age group, Kohut concluded
that individuals ranging in age from 18 to 47
“have so far shown little indication that they
will become heavier news consumers as they
age.”
Facing the same daunting demographic
headwinds as newspapers, the management
of NPR embarked on a thoughtfully
conceived strategy to export their assets and
brand to digital platforms to attract different,
yet complementary, audiences. To do this,
they created a magazine-style website and
a comprehensive podcast library featuring
audio from more than 50 local affiliates and
other providers.
Where newspapers for the most part
export the look, feel and content of the
printed product to the web – and, in many
cases also to smartphones and tablets – the
NPR efforts are purpose-built to leverage
the full array of digital technology for each
audience and application.
NPR had an advantage over newspapers:
As an audio-only medium seeking to
project its brand to the highly visual digital
realm, NPR had to learn how to acquire
and use pictures, videos, maps and other
graphic elements. To do so, it took its cues
from successful native digital publishers,
unfettered by the stubborn obeisance at most
newspapers to a format inspired by the need
to efficiently craft pages the way Gutenberg
did. Because NPR was free to start from
scratch, its website looks, and functions,
like a truly interactive medium, where it is
easy to find related content, navigate to a
local affiliate, add or read comments, and
share an article or audio clip via Facebook,
Twitter, Google+ or email. There are revenue
opportunities at every turn, including links to
the NPR Shop and – this is, after all, public
radio – where visitors like you can make a
donation.
Attuned to the desire of modern consumers
to customize their content consumption, the
podcast section of the website features a “mix
your own” playlist tool, tapping a rich and
easily searchable library of content indexed
by topic, title and provider. The organization,
design and convenience of the NPR podcast
environment actually surpasses the podcast
section of the estimable iTunes store.
The NPR digital strategy creates multiple
entry points for consuming multiple types
of content on multiple types of media on
multiple types of platforms. As such, it is the
antithesis of the one-size-fits-all content and
presentation employed by most newspapers
across their digital media.
The difference in strategies between
NPR and newspapers would not matter if
publishers were continuing to gain readers
and revenues. But print penetration is at a
modern-day low and advertising revenues are
less than half of what they were as recently as
2005. Publishers interested in turning things
around should tune in to the NPR strategy.
December 2013
The Standard opts for comprehensive workflow solutions
ppi Media enters the market in Kenya
On October 7, 2013, the Standard Group in Nairobi, Kenya,
commissioned ppi Media to install a wide range of solutions for
its planning, production, ad and editorial workflows. The contract
was signed by Sam Shollei, CEO of The Standard, at the World
Publishing Expo.
Boasting a market share of 30%, The Standard is the largest
and most influential daily newspaper in Kenya. Apart from the
print edition, a large number of online, mobile, broadcast and TV
products are also available to news consumers. The decision by the
management at The Standard to install ppi Media’s solutions will see
many manual processes replaced by automated workflows. For the
print edition, Robert Toroitich, CIO of The Standard, will back tested,
proven market solutions. In the digital sector especially, The Standard
has already set benchmarks and, with AdX, which will integrate both
the ad management system SAP IS-M/AM and the ad server, and
Content-X, ppi Media’s solution for creating cross-media editorial
content, it will create an even more streamlined, efficient workflow.
“Our goal is to inform, educate and entertain people with high-quality
content on all media channels. With its highly integrated workflow
solultions, ppi Media offers maximum automation in all areas of the
workflow.”
ad pagination system AdPag, ad reservation system AdDispo and
page assembly system ProPag, will be responsible for planning and
producing the print edition of the daily newspaper. AdX will manage
all the ads, including bi-directional interfaces to SAP IS-M/AM and
the ad server, for digital output channels. With mediaPreflight, The
Standard has opted for a cross-media preflight solution which checks
content according to the publisher’s requirements for a specific
medium. The editorial department will also receive a cross-media
tool. Content-X, ppi Media’s editorial system, is based on InDesign,
enabling users to create and deliver cross-media content to different
media channels.
The new workflow
The Standard will install solutions by ppi Media from planning to
multichannel delivery. PlanPag, together with its integrated classified
f.l.t.r.: Norbert Ohl (CEO, ppi Media), Sam Shollei (CEO, The Standard), Dr. Hauke Berndt (Senior Vice President Sales, ppi Media)
The Sun attracts 117,000 paying subscribers to its Sun+ digital service
News UK’s tabloid erected a paywall in August
and analysts reckon it needs at least 250,000
subscribers to break even
Sun+ since August.
The Sun has attracted 117,000 paying subscribers
to its £2-a-week digital service Sun+ since erecting a
paywall around its website on 1 August.
News UK’s tabloid, the UK’s biggest selling
paper, reached 100,000 digital subscribers in four
months – it took stablemates the Times and Sunday
Times a year to reach the same level of paying
customers after their online content went behind a
paywall in 2010.
Analysts forecast that the Sun needed to attract
at least 250,000 - and perhaps more than 350,000 paying subscribers to Sun+ in order to cover the loss
of online advertising and recoup the tens of millions
of pounds forked out for deals including digital
Premier League football highlights. “No one else has
sought to charge for digital access to a mass audience
newspaper, and, though it’s early days, we are
encouraged by the strong start achieved by the Sun,”
said David Dinsmore, editor of The Sun. Dinsmore
said the Sun was not looking to target overseas users
like the Daily Mail and admitted the publisher’s
social media strategy has not been coherent enough
to date. “In reality our marketplace is very much the
UK at the moment, we have 60 million people here
to focus on,” he said. “We are in the process of hiring
a social media team, we have been remiss [in this
area] in the past. It has been an ad hoc affair. We are a
product across all platforms and it is key to have that
social-media marketing opportunity.
“It is early days and we are still bottoming out
what we want to do, we have a number of successful
individuals [on Twitter], good things to build on, but
we want to see something much more structured.”
News UK revealed some details of the subscriber
base of Sun+. The biggest single group (30%) are 25
to 34, which Katie Vanneck-Smith, chief marketing
officer at News UK, said “blows out the myth young
people won’t pay for [digital] content”.
Almost half (47%) of sign-ups for the paid
service are via mobile devices, which Vanneck-Smith
said was slightly surprising as there had been an
expectation that the service might be initially more
popular on desktop computers, given the typical print
Sun reader’s profile.
Sun+ subscribers are split 60/40 between men and
women, although this is expected to balance out to an
extent once the football promotion slows down, and
there is a “slight” London bias to sign ups, with the
capital’s denizens considered to be early adopters.
Not surprisingly, the Sun’s almost 30 million
online unique user base plummeted following the
introduction of the paywall, as users sought out free
alternatives.The Times and Sunday Times saw almost
90% of web traffic evaporate after the introduction of
a paywall in 2010. In October, News UK revealed
that the number of digital subscribers to the Times
and Sunday Times had topped 150,000.
News UK chief executive Mike Darcey, who
joined from BSkyB nearly a year ago December, has
aggressively pursued digital sports rights deals to
bolster the Sun’s online offering. First up in January
was a £30m-plus deal for Premier League internet
and mobile highlights – outbidding former employer
BSkyB as well as O2 and Perform Group.
This was followed by a four-year deal for the
digital FA Cup rights, and last month the publisher
secured the digital clip rights to highlights of
Champions League and Europa League matches in a
joint deal with BT Sport.
The Sun had an average daily circulation of
2.089m in November, according to the latest Audit
Bureau of Circulations figures published on Friday.
However, the Sun has been overtaken for the first
time as the biggest selling Saturday paper, with the
Daily Mail’s edition on that day averaging 2,474,439
in November. The Sun’s Saturday edition averaged
2,453,981.
Page 47
December 2013
Successful Muller Martini Appearance at the World Publishing Expo in Berlin
“The newspaper industry is alive and well”
Muller Martini welcomed far more visitors
at its stand at the World Publishing Expo
newspaper fair in Berlin than last year.
Customers were enthusiastic about the
Muller Martini mailroom party in Axel
Springer AG’s Spandau printing house
featuring Europe’s biggest mailroom.
Volker Leonhardt, Managing Director
of Muller Martini Germany, was visibly
satisfied with the three-day appearance of
Muller Martini: “The response of customers
in Berlin was a lot stronger than at last year’s
fair in Frankfurt. We had lots of good project
discussions at our stand, which indicate
emerging hope in the newspaper industry.”
The positive mood was also sensed by
Vladimir Georgiev, Managing Director of
IPK Rodina printing house based in the
Bulgarian capital of Sofia that produces with
two ProLiner newspaper inserting systems
from Muller Martini: “The premises of the
fair in Berlin were not only more suitable
than in Frankfurt, I also think that the fair
had more visitors. I consider the good mood
to be a positive signal and proof that the
newspaper industry is alive and well.” Having
worked in the graphic arts industry for many
years, Vladimir Georgiev appreciates the
manageable size of the newspaper fair. “You
get an excellent overview of the state of the
art in a short period of time and can exchange
experiences with colleagues.”
WAN-IFRA Expo 2013 in Berlin was a real success: Jürgen B
ender, MM Managing
Director, the successful international Müller-Martini tandem Volker Leonhardt and
Georg Riva
This is also the reason why Christian
Basse, Managing Director of SKN Druck
und Verlag GmbH & Co in Germany’s
Emden, who has commissioned the world’s
first FlexLiner newspaper inserting system
from Muller Martin, appreciates the World
Publishing Expo: “It’s a small, but very
manageable fair for newspaper publishing
houses, where I always find all relevant
contacts and can get an idea of how the
newspaper industry is performing.” Although
Christian Basse keeps up to speed on the
industry trends via the specialist press, “the
individual fair stands provided me with an
outstanding reflection of what I have read.”
Connex.Mailroom and investment
protection program
The presentation of the Connex.Mailroom
process management system, which enables a
comprehensive and systematic data overview
of the production in the mailroom, also saw
great interest. As such, it is possible – motto:
“management by numbers” – to read specific
queries on downtimes, inserts and output
reached just in time and in a simple manner.
Customers used the visit to the Muller Martini stand at the World Publishing Expo in Berlin
for in-depth discussions with the mailroom specialist.
Page 48
The presentations of the comprehensive
MMServices program, i.e. the life cycle
management, from Muller Martini, also
attracted lots of visitors. The service
portfolio allows newspaper manufacturers
to respond flexibly to current challenges
and to secure the long-term profitability of
the mailroom. The Muller Martini exports
December 2013
showed customers how they can keep their
systems productive over a longest possible
period of time with a customized investment
protection program.
Visit to the Spandau
printing house
One of the highlights of the fair in Berlin
was the visit to Axel Springer AG’s Spandau
printing house, where in addition to nine
daily and five weekly newspapers more than
3.5 million advertisement newspapers are
printed and assembled on Muller Martini
systems every week. The visit to Europe’s
biggest mailroom was part of the Muller
Martini customer event, where attendees
could exchange ideas on the opportunities
and challenges of the newspaper industry in
a relaxed atmosphere. “It was an impressive
journey through 20 years of Muller
Martini mailroom technology,” said Volker
Leonhardt, emphasizing the successful
event. “Our customers were impressed how
Axel Springer anticipates market changes
with permanent new investments and
higher automation and thereby secures its
competitiveness for the future.”
The highlight of the first day of the fair was the Muller Martini mailroom party in Axel
Springer AG‘s Spandau printing house.
The Portuguese newspaper A Bola, available
in e-paper, tablets and smartphones with
Protecmedia viewers
The Portuguese newspaper A Bola has
made the move into mobile devices and is
now available on tablets and smartphones
and in in e-paper format. This represents a
great leap forward for the leading sports
newspaper in Portugal, whose readers can
now enjoy all of the options offered by these
devices.
Through Protecmedia viewers, A Bola
places its contents in these media, both in the
Android platform as iOS and e-paper version,
giving them significant added value thanks to
different audiovisual elements, which include
videos, photo galleries or different pop-ups
to supplement the information. The net result
is a new visual experience for readers when
enjoying the publication.
Fernando Gomez, CEO Protec Media
With these new versions, A Bola not
only improves the contents which it offers
its readers, it also offers advertisers new
alternatives, opening up to them these
devices’ full range of audiovisual possibilities
so that they can present their products in a
novel and very attractive manner
Page 49
December 2013
Cross-media publishing was the main focus at this year’s trade fair
ppi Media looks back at a successful
World Publishing Expo 2013
Norbert Ohl, COO of ppi Media, is
absolutely certain that “The newspaper,
as a business model, will continue to be
successful, even though the digital media
channels, too, are increasingly supplied
with high quality content. As a software
service provider, our main focus in the last
few years has been to develop strategies
and solutions for digital publishing. At the
World Publishing Expo, we presented
solutions such as Content-X, AdX, a
digital strategy, multichannel publishing
and workshop programs. Three orders
and overwhelming positive feedback
from those who visited our stand have
strengthened our confidence in our
products.”
with any editorial system, is the perfect
foundation for a successful business
model.
Ads with AdX
Apart from editorial systems, cross-media
ad management for publishers is steadily
optimize their workflow for online banners
significantly. The Südkurier in Constance,
for instance, achieves time savings of
over 80% with complex banners,” says
Norbert Ohl.
All in all, ppi Media is very satisfied
with the World Publishing Expo 2013. “Our
stand was very well visited on all three days
and we were able to sign three contracts
At the trade fair, which was held in
Berlin from October 7-9, 2013, ppi Media
presented software and services which
assist media companies in implementing
and automating digital strategies. At the
World Publishing Expo, there was a clear
trend towards streamlined and flexible crossmedia solutions in all areas of publishing.
At ppi Media’s stand, visitors showed great
interest in the editorial system Content-X.
The Standard in Nairobi, Kenya, and the
German mediaprint infoverlag in Mering
commissioned ppi Media on the first day to
install its solution for creating and delivering
content to different media channels. In 2013
alone, ppi Media has already received six
orders for the editorial solution from various
customers. More and more magazines,
corporate publishers and daily newspapers
now use Content-X in their editorial
departments.
Multichannel publishing
with CX digital
A further highlight at ppi Media’s
stand was CX digital. The platform for
multichannel publishing enables media
companies to publish a digital newspaper
edition or magazine with interactive content
on smartphones and tablets both quickly
and cheaply. CX digital has already been
successfully installed at several publishing
companies in the US. And the first customer
in Germany, the Lippische Landes-Zeitung,
will go live this year. CX digital offers
publishers a transaction-based billing
solution with minimal initial investment.
CX digital, which can be combined
Page 50
Very well visited: ppi Media‘s stand at World Publishing Expo 2013
gaining importance. In the digital media
especially, many jobs at the publishing house
are still done manually. With AdX, ppi Media
makes the ad workflow more transparent
and simpler for all media channels. “In
practice, our customers have been able to
with new customers. Our role as a supplier
of multimedia solutions has been clearly
accepted,” says Christian Finder, Head
of International Sales and responsible for
the World Publishing Expo at ppi Media,
summing up the trade fair.
December 2013
People in the spotlight – PreMedia Newsletter English World Edition
Richards retires after 45 Years in the Industry
First in a series of personal profiles of
major contributors to our industry.
After obtaining his Bachelor of Science
degree in electrical engineering from
Vanderbilt University, John Richards began
embarking on a career that included.
Marketing and Product Management, as well
as engineering.
Products that fell under his influence
include the Goss Metro, the Heidelberg-
Theo Buchmeyer, John Richards, Karl Malik
his career in America’s Apollo program,
while continuing studies in physics and
mathematics.
His first job in graphic arts was designing
second-generation
phototypesetters
at
American Type Founders. He joined
Goss (then Miehle-Goss-Dexter) in 1972,
Harris M-600, the Sunday Press lines,
and the Goss Vpak packaging presses.
To these ends, Richards says that his
biggest contributions were talking with
the most visionary customers, structuring
what their future needs were likely to be,
and then developing concepts for future
products to meet those needs. “The whole
key to successful product introduction is
synthesising solutions for the customer
that combine the best capabilities of the
supplier with a structured vision of what the
customer’s needs will be in the future,” says
Richards.
Always insisting on looking at the “big
picture” in this way, his 39 U.S. patents (and
numerous associated worldwide patents)
show a wide range innovation in both the
prepress and press disciplines.
“But no one individual does it alone. I was
always surrounded by great team members
who complemented my capabilities, and
great leaders who tolerated the occasional
goofy idea along with the great ones.”
He recalls that his boss’ boss at Goss had
previously been head of the Apollo program
for Rockwell International, “an indication of
the calibre of leadership.”
“The variety of products and services
offered by the wide range of suppliers to our
industry worldwide shows that everywhere
there are great contributors, great teams and
great leaders. It was a real pleasure to have
been a part of one of these.”
John will now have extra time to devote
to his many hobbies that include classic car
restorations and continuing additions to his
27-rank home pipe organ.
“After a taste of retirement, I don’t think I
would look forward to returning to working
fulltime, but I will enjoy following progress
in our industry, and possibly contributing
here and there.”
John and his wife Karolyn live in seacoast
New Hampshire in the U.S.
We wish them the best.
?
Page 51
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