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A Journal of the Press Institute of India - Research Institute for Newspaper Development

September 2014 | Volume 35 | Issue 9 | Rs 40www.pressinstitute.in

SurveyRIND

Laying your hands on a newspaper hot off the press (KBA press pictured here) still gets your adrenaline going. Even as the annual WAN-IFRA India Conference is all set to get underway in New Delhi, there seems to be a sense of robustness in the air. The Daily Thanthi Group in Chennai has just invested in QuadTech's Register Guidance and Ribbon Control systems with MultiCam. The Times of India has fortified its presence in the Western Uttar Pradesh region with the launch in August of four editions in Bareli, Meerut, Dehradun and Agra. The Amar Ujala Compact, a tabloid designed for those who can’t afford a broadsheet, priced at Rs 1.50, is selling almost half a million copies in India’s largest state. And India’s largest circulated daily, Dainik Jagran, continues to record healthy operating margins despite increased newsprint cost and the economy not really supporting growth in advertisement revenue. All signs of robustness, as print is learning quickly to coexist with digital. As James Lamont of the Financial Times, UK, said at last year’s conference in Bangalore, India still offers a wonderful print environment. And it’s wonderful for a journalist to be in India.

IT’S PARADISE STILL FOR NEWSPAPERS IN INDIA

1September 2014 SurveyRIND

FROM THE EDITOR

Sharing lessons and developing strategies for the days ahead

The WAN-IFRA Conference in India has now become a premier event for publishers, editors, technical directors/ managers and journalists. Although this is the 22nd year of the conference, it really took off after the WAN-IFRA India office was established in 2001. Until then IFRA only had a representative office. With R.V. Rajan shepherding the team in the early years till about 2008, and Magdoom Mohamed ably taking on the baton, the conference has seen attendance grow; it’s now become a must-attend event for many. There is a lot of work that goes into organising the event, most of it done quietly from a nook on the third floor of the SIET College campus in Chennai where the WAN-IFRA South Asia office is headquartered. And come to think of it, it is quite amazing that a small team is able to pull off a huge event like this. A lot of the success, I’m sure, Magdoom and team owe to Rajan, for all the lessons they have learnt from him.

One of the reasons for the popularity of the conference is that it usually manages to bring worthwhile case studies from newsrooms and provides perspectives on news businesses and news production from around the world. Recent years have seen the conference having three parallel sessions or summits as they are called – Newsroom, Printing and Crossmedia Advertising. There are also pre-conference workshops that some find quite useful (this time, the workshops are on Data Journalism, New Media Metrics and Densitometry).

Although the attendance has been encouraging, the same cannot be said about support by exhibitors (suppliers to the newspaper industry). Many feel there’s no point spending money to exhibit products when there is hardly any investment in new newspaper presses. Given the situation, it may not be a happy time for several of the ancillary industries that are

dependent on such investment. With the newspaper market doing well in India and most of the revenue coming from print, publishers are not really too keen in investing heavily on the digital front. Digital subscription and digital revenue are not streams they can bank on – at least for now. So, there is a lull. There is no Expo this year but I understand there will be ‘info-tables’ at the foyer for a few exhibitors.

The conference has several interesting sessions lined up. I am looking forward to listening to T.N. Ninan speak about the blurring line between business and editorial. Another interesting session is likely to be the one on the digital transformation of Malayala Manorama and how the ‘print-strong’ publisher is gearing up to face the digital revolution, session to be handled by Mariam Mammen Mathew, COO, Manorama Online. WAN-IFRA’s Antony tells me that a not-to-be-missed session will be the one by Thomas Smolders, head of International Roll-out, Blendle, The Netherlands, on how a Dutch start-up has united newspapers of The Netherlands under a single paywall and what the business model is. The title is quite interesting: iTunes of Print Media. Can alliances between newspapers in India help? Perhaps. There’s a session on that too, by HT’s VP Marketing. I also wish to attend a panel discussion on Day 2, which will focus on where our future readers are and whether the reading habit is vanishing among the younger generation. Later that afternoon, there is a session titled, Working Together with Google. Now, that surely will be well attended.

Sashi Nair [email protected]

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Cover page photo: KBA

‘Publishers must be flexible, follow market trends’ 4

A newspaper in miniature, ‘a buyer’s darling’ 8

Achieving the ‘wow’ factor in pretty quick time 12

Mobile ad spending starts overtaking print 14

Best possible conditions for print evaluation 18

TOI gains from its prediction models 24

A realistic look at serving readers better 26

Data everywhere… but only a drop of insight 30

Industry Updates 32

Other News 50

Events Calendar 54


‘Publishers must be flexible, follow market trends’

What is ppi Media's outlook as far as the Indian market is concerned? Does it view India as a booming, growth-oriented market for print?

Yes, we regard India as a strong market. Since the elections this year, there have been clear signs that publishers in India are becoming more active and entering a renewed period of growth. This not only applies to print, but also to online, mobile, radio and TV.

How is ppi Media faring in India and has its business growth here been satisfactory?

The Indian publishing market is of key importance to us. Our customers include prestigious names such as The Times of India, Hindustan Times or Sakal Media Group. Which is why we've decided to focus more on this market and look forward to working together with Basis Systems. In Gopal Krishnan, the founder of the company, we have found a partner with a great deal of experience in the Indian media market (see page 6).

Are there specific plans for boosting growth in India in the coming two or three years?

Yes, we would like to intensify our activities in India in the next few years. This is why we're coordinating our products to meet the requirements of the diverse Indian market. Although our customers include large media companies, we also offer small, compact products which are especially suitable for medium-sized publishing companies.

Would you stress that news publishing houses in today's world must innovate to survive?

Absolutely. Although print is still the most important source of revenue, publishing content on all media

channels is more important than ever today. Managing this complex situation is no doubt a challenge, but with our products, we at ppi Media provide publishing companies with the necessary tools to meet these challenges and work very efficiently.

Does social media complement print, or do you view the digital platform as a competitor to print?

It depends. If print publishers leave the digital field to their competitors, then they are rivals. But if they're active in the social media, the media channels and their products complement each other. Publishers themselves control whether they use the new media for themselves or whether they make room for new players who are entering the market. They don't need to be large companies, but can be small, local players as well. This is why it's important to use all the media channels.

In India, you will see print and digital co-existing and growing. Does it strike you as different when you look at other markets and do you think it will continue this way for a while here?

In the saturated markets of Europe and the US, circulation figures for print products are dropping steadily, and it's only the digital channels that are growing. This is not the case in India because here, the middle classes have a high potential for more growth

Norbert Ohl.

Smartphones, tablets, digital media channels and news apps have become an indispensable part of our news landscape. Publishers, therefore, need to find new ways to present readers with the content they require, as well as tap new target groups and create added value. Sashi Nair had some questions for Nobert Ohl, CEO, ppi Media, quite a few of them relating to the Indian context


in the field of print. Nevertheless, I'm convinced that in India, too, the greatest potential can be found in the digital channels.

ppi Media not only develops software for print, but is enhancing its range of products to include streamlined workflow solutions for web, broadcast and mobile. Can you elaborate and give some examples?

On the one hand, our Content-X solution offers an editorial system that serves all these different channels. Content-X makes texts, images and videos media-neutral in order to make this content available in all the different formats. This guarantees a particularly efficient workflow which saves both time and costs. In the field of advertising sales, on the other hand, a complete overview is indispensable. ppi Media's

ad management solutions AdX and AdMan enable publishing companies to sell and produce advertising formats for all media channels, that is, print, online, mobile and tablet.

What has been your organisation's contribution in making the world more environment-friendly?

I am proud that ppi Media is a subsidiary of the Eversfrank Group, which includes one of Germany's most environmentally friendly printing houses. The forestry company Evers ReForest, which belongs to the Eversfrank Group, supports the afforestation of mixed woodland in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, to sustainably reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, the Eversfrank Group uses 100 per cent green electricity from regenerative power sources.

How do you see the world of news publishing a decade from now?

If it were that easy to predict, I'd be awarded the Nobel Prize (laughs). Unfortunately, no-one can say what will happen in ten years' time. All we know for sure is that there will be more and more media channels, and that more and more titles – which have to assert themselves on the market – will be published, not only in print, but also in online and mobile. What's important is for publishers to be flexible and to monitor and actively follow market trends.

A screenshot of Content-X, a ppi Media product.

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Basis Systems represents ppi Media in IndiaBasis Systems is ppi Media’s new partner. Gopal Krishnan is the founder and CEO

of Basis Systems, which provides and distributes software and services for the Indian print publishing industry. “Using ppi Media's workflow solutions, we can support Indian publishers with the publication of content for all channels as well as enabling them to generate and sustain growth in the digital sector,” Krishnan says.

For 13 years now, Indian publishers have been using ppi Media's workflow software. The Times of India, Hindustan Times and Sakaal are just a few of the Indian newspapers that make up ppi Media's customers. “To intensify our activities in India, we are also offering small and compact solutions that are particularly suited to the requirements of medium-sized publishers. Gopal Krishnan knows this market extremely well; therefore, we believe that this cooperation will enable us to access smaller publishing houses as well as corporate publishing,” says Gerhard Raab, senior VP International Sales at ppi Media.

Gopal Krishnan.

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Enabling easy creation of content across media platforms

At dmexco, the leading trade fair and conference for digital marketing, ppi Media, together with Digital Collections, will be presenting innovative products and workflow solutions for digital publishing at Booth D-22 in Hall 6 from September 10-11, 2014 in Cologne

Print is the core business of most daily newspapers and magazines, yet publishers have long since been aware of the benefits of the digital media: extended editorial deadlines, an almost endless amount of space for images, videos and interaction, plus additional ad spaces available for purchasing. No publisher nowadays can do without a digital news service. Serving the many different media channels in print and on the web is, however, a real challenge. At dmexco 2014 in Cologne, ppi Media, the Hamburg-based software specialist, and its partner Digital Collections, will jointly present products for multi-channel publishing which, due to their high level of automation, enable content for print, online and mobile to be created efficiently, yet individually.

At Booth D-22 in Hall 6, ppi Media will be presenting its web-based ad manager AdX, which plans and schedules advertising material and controls campaigns. With the AdX Sales App, ad sales staff can

view available ad spaces at a glance on site at the customer's. Content-X, a joint editorial system developed by ppi Media and Digital Collections, together with its modules CX digital and CX planner, is the ideal tool for publishing images, texts or videos on all output channels. Content is processed and output for print products, digital channels, as well as for smartphones and tablets. Together with ppi Media's analytics solutions, publishers can now develop new business models and implement a new digital monetarisation approach.

The operator of dmexco is expecting about 800 exhibitors and 27000 national and international guests from the digital marketing, media & information, ICT and consumer electronics sectors, as well as creative, advertising and full service agencies. The seminars, conferences and workshops will focus on marketing, the media, advertising and technology. Hundreds of speakers from all over the world, creative startups, the biggest advertisers and most successful digital brands will all meet at dmexco. <Hauke Berndt, senior vice-president Sales, ppi Media.

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AMAR UJALA COMPACT

A newspaper in miniature, ‘a buyer’s darling’

The Amar Ujala Compact is a tabloid, and yet not a tabloid. It’s a tabloid in size and price. In other ways, it is a complete newspaper. Presenting a

case study of the Hindi language daily at the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and SND News Design Conference in Mumbai recently, Vinod Verma, editor, Digital and Convergence, Amar Ujala Publications, talked about the rationale behind the Amar Ujala Compact, its vision, the production challenges and its marketing success.

‘To keep the maximum number of people informed and to keep the information affordable’ was the motto of the newspaper, said Verma. The Amar Ujala Compact comprises 20 tabloid-sized pages, but is for all other intents and purposes, a full-fledged newspaper. Published in six Tier II and Tier III cities of Uttar Pradesh, it sells 4.50 lakh copies a day at an affordable cover price of just Rs 1.50. “This newspaper is designed for those who cannot afford a broadsheet,” Verma said.

When the main paper reached a point where the

growth perspective was limited in Uttar Pradesh, publishers started thinking of ways in which the product could be made to reach more people, Verma said. Affordability was key. Thus the Amar Ujala Compact was born, in 2007. The aim was to bring out the Amar Ujala in tabloid size. “It is not a different product. It is the same product,” he stressed, adding, the response was amazing. “When I say it’s not a tabloid, I mean that it does not

have the sensationalism of a tabloid,” Verma told the WAN-IFRA conference. “We use many photographs, but there’s nothing sleazy about them. We use the same news items, same photographs and same graphics [as the main paper] most of the time. And it is for all practical purposes one product coming out in two different packages,” he said.

Other newspapers in the same area came out with products with different brand names. “But we have the same brand name – Amar Ujala main product and Amar Ujala Compact. The same newsroom and the same journalists are working for both the newspapers.”

Talking of design issues, Verma said “we use tables and charts but not very complicated types of graphics because this newspaper is for lower middle-class and lower class people.” The involvement of the design team is minimal, he said. The journalists themselves design the newspaper every day from the news perspective. There is a small team in each city for Amar Ujala Compact. The inside design is done by the team at the corporate office.

Verma stressed that the use of bold type and graphics and proper placement of images was important to the paper. Usually, in a tabloid there is one news story on the first page. Though the Amar Ujala Compact

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Vinod Verma in the midst of his presentation.

Vinod Verma, editor, Digital and Convergence, Amar Ujala Publications, spoke at the WAN-IFRA and SND News Design Conference about the vision, mission and challenges of the Amar Ujala Compact. Gayatri T. Rao reports


follows the tabloid style of bold headlines, unlike the conventional tabloid, it has two or three stories on the first page, he explained. Also, the placement of news is different. “It is hyper-local. It is a very city-specific newspaper. It does not carry national and international news on the front page, unless it is really big news, like Modi becoming the Prime Minister. Otherwise national news is restricted to the inside pages,” he said.

Infotainment, lifestyle, sports, cinema and other entertainment have their allotted spaces, and so do world news, feature stories and editorials in the Amar Ujala Compact. It was not a second newspaper, Verma asserted. “It is the main newspaper for those who buy it. It is a family newspaper and carries everything a family needs.”

In some areas, the circulation of Amar Ujala Compact surpassed even the main newspaper, Verma said. In

Allahabad, Amar Ujala sells 90000 copies while Amar Ujala Compact sells 120000. In some markets, it sells more than Amar Ujala and other competitors. There is hardly any overlapping. A good number of readers of the Compact are graduating to Amar Ujala.

The Amar Ujala brand sells more than the other big newspapers in the region. “We have achieved this feat without a separate marketing team,” Verma said. The same team takes care of marketing of both the newspapers. However, the publishers are now planning to take on more marketing people because they want to take the product to other cities too. “The ads are not enough for us to run the newspaper,”

Verma said in conclusion, “but it is a commitment from the publishers to make news affordable to people in UP. Amar Ujala has thus become the buyer’s darling.” <

SFN Newsprint Waste Management Special Report to be released in New Delhi

WAN-IFRA has announced the release of its latest special SFN report on Newsprint Waste Management authored by Kasturi Balaji, director, Kasturi & Sons, publishers of The Hindu. Newsprint accounts for around 50 to 60 per cent of the total cost of producing a printed newspaper. Over the years, several technology advancements have made newspaper production a finely tuned industrial process. However, efficient use of newsprint is an area that calls for serious and close attention. A sharp focus on the management of newsprint waste will have a dramatic positive impact on the efficiency of the whole production process.“Each percent of saved waste reduces the production cost,” says Manfred Werfel, deputy CEO

and executive director, WAN-IFRA. “Waste occurs at all stages of production and delivery, including areas, where the printing plant has no control. This makes combating waste a complex problem. Considering the cost of newsprint, reducing the waste can make a uniquely valuable contribution to the organization.”

Balaji, who is also the chairman of the WAN-IFRA South Asian Committee, says, “The newspaper industry is greatly indebted to those members of the WAN-IFRA (then IFRA) Newsprint Committee that compiled and approved the Newsprint and Newsink Guide in 1993. That Guide has served as the main reference and source of material for this paper on newsprint waste management. This paper attempts to both update the content of the section on efficient use of newsprint and bring in the Indian context wherever applicable.”

The report will be formally released at WAN-IFRA India 2014 conference, 17-18 September, New Delhi, and presented at the World Publishing Expo in Amsterdam, 13–15 October. Balaji will also speak about newsprint waste management at the Printing Summit of the conference in New Delhi.

Adds Magdoom Mohamed, managing director, WAN-IFRA South Asia: “As the circulation of newspapers continues to increase in India, this topic of waste management is of huge significance. This special report will help our members to learn about the latest best practices in reducing newsprint waste. We take great pride in releasing this report at our annual conference”. <


NEWSPAPER DESIGN AS A MARKETING TOOL

Achieving the ‘wow’ factor in pretty quick time

Traditionally, the design and marketing departments in a newspaper are inimical to each other. But Ceylon Newspapers, publishers

of Mawbima and Ceylon Today, the emerging second largest newspaper group in Sri Lanka, has bucked the trend. In the Group’s papers, the two departments work in tandem, respecting each other’s perspective, to bring out publications that outstrip competition day after day.

Making a presentation on Newspaper Design as a Marketing Tool at the a World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and SND News Design Conference in Mumbai recently, Thivanke Beragama, deputy editor, Design & Visual, and Saranga Wijeyarathne, director, Marketing, took participants at the conference on

a step-by-step journey through their success story. Ceylon Newspapers, which suffered along with other publications in the island nation due to a drastic decline in newspaper readership between 2000 and 2011, decided to approach the problem scientifically. “We found from a survey that the traditional

methods in use at that time were boring, unexciting, dull, conventional, monotonous, outdated and old-fashioned. These were the very words of the readers. We were losing readers to the TV. We decided to drastically change the look and feel [of the paper] by changing the face of the newspaper completely. We gave birth to the most creative newspaper on November 18, 2011,” said Wijeyarathne. “We thought we should bring out a marketable newspaper because newspaper publishing is a business,” he added. “We actually gave birth to four newspapers because the daily newspapers Mawbima and Ceylon Today and the weekend editions of each are technically considered to be different newspapers launched at the same time.”

Stressing that unless there is creativity in newspaper and advertising designs, it would be difficult to keep print alive, Wijeyarathne said everybody belonging to the newspaper – editorial department, marketing department and every other concerned person, had to get involved in bringing out a marketable newspaper. That was what worked for Ceylon Newspapers, allowing it to beat other well-established brands in Sri Lanka.

The first step was to hire creative professionals. Thivanke Beragama was inducted, even though he had zero experience in newspapers. He guided the recruitment of other advertising professionals. R. Thivanke (left) and Saranga.

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Ceylon Newspapers, a comparative newcomer in the world of print media in the island nation, has shown how synergy between the various departments of a newspaper house can send bottom lines soaring. Gayatri T. Rao has the story


Beragama and Wijeyarathne shared five ‘secrets’

of the newspapers’ success with those attending the WAN-IFRA Conference.

Importance of front page: To start with, they said, it was realised that the success of a product depends to a large extent on the packaging, and that, for a newspaper, the front page is the packaging. “We also realised that none of the products in the world can change the pack of their product often. Only newspapers can,” said Wijayerathne. In Sri Lanka and in India, the duo said, conventionally, newspapers are folded in half before they are sent out, and when hawkers carry them, only the top half is seen.

Therefore, when breaking news is splashed all over the front page, often the most important part is in the bottom half, which is folded out of sight. Therefore, at Ceylon Newspapers, a conscious decision was made to restrict breaking news headlines to the first half of the first page.

Being unconventional: According to Beragama, “The success of being unconventional lies in design.” To illustrate the point, Wijayerathnae said “At one time, a Sri Lanka minister threatened to kill the editor of our Sinhalese newspaper. Thinking out-of-the-box, we used the masthead to introduce the story by using the same colour for both. The masthead of the newspaper thus became a part of the lead story.”

Importance of visualisation: Talking about this aspect in securing reader involvement, they said that Ceylon Newspapers actually had an edge over competition because of the talent available in the organisation. Even if a photograph to support a story is lacking, Ceylon Newspapers staff can produce catchy graphics that draw the readers in and help them empathize with the report.

Resource utilisation: They quoted the prime

example of Tilakratna, a highly talented illustrator, whose signature is well-known. His picture stories have been made into movies in Sri Lanka, which, as a country, places a lot of importance on cartoons – so much so that some readers look at the cartoons first and then go to the front page. Ceylon Newspapers capitalised on Tilakratna’s presence on its rolls.

“Instead of utilising him only for cartoons, we decided to use his talent on our front page also. What is important in such caricatures is his signature, which attracts eye-balls. We use the internal resource that we have to the maximum.”

Coexistence: “We believe that we have to exist together for the good of our company,” said Beragame. To bring out a marketable newspaper, we have to agree with what the marketing department feels will not work,” said Wijayarathne. Often, the marketing team agrees to remove ads from the front page, respecting the design team’s knowledge of what will work. He quoted the instance of Beragame’s unprecedented request, soon after he joined Ceylon Newspapers, that ‘ear space ads’ (on the top right and left corners of the front page) be done away with. These commanded premium rates and were the easiest to sell. But the marketing team agreed to give them up in the interests of creativity. The space is now used to market the paper or the inside stories, which is very important.

Following these principles, in less than three years, the Mawbima and Ceylon Today have achieved a ‘wow’ factor that other, much older newspapers have not been able to produce. <

TOI editions in Agra, Bareli, Meerut, DehradunThe Times of India has fortified its presence in the Western Uttar Pradesh region with the launch of

its four editions in Bareli, Meerut, Dehradun and Agra on August 3. Confirming the development to exchange4media, Rahul Kansal, executive president, Brand Function, BCCL said, “We have launched four separate editions of The Times of India in Western UP. We are looking at the launch as part of our greater NCR approach. Earlier, these places were being served by our Delhi edition, with circulation of more than 80000-90000 copies.” When asked about the potential in these markets, Kansal replied,

“These markets are witnessing unimaginable amount of progress and development in different sectors. Hence, they offer good scope for the print media market.”

TOI has editions in Aurangabad, Kozhikode, Kolhapur and Kolkata.(Courtesy: exchange4media.com)

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BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT WITH WAN-IFRA

World News Publishing FocusYour Guide to the Changing Media Landscape

Mobile ad spending starts overtaking print

In late January, Gartner, the global research and advisory company, reported that worldwide mobile advertising spending “is forecast to reach

US$ 18 billion in 2014, up from the estimated $ 13.1 billion in 2013… The market is expected to grow to $ 41.9 billion by 2017.” Gartner also said, “All regions of the world will experience strong growth in mobile advertising spend, although North America is where most of growth will come from, due to the sheer scale of its advertising budgets and their shift to mobile. ... Western Europe’s market for mobile advertising will remain similar to North America’s, albeit at a slightly lower scale, for the duration of the forecast period.”

Perhaps even bigger news for newspaper publishers was a report from eMarketer in early March that reported that UK mobile advertising spending will overtake newspaper ad spending this year: “Mobile spending will top that of newspapers for the first time in 2014 and will be comparable with spending on all UK print media combined,” the report stated.

“Mobile will account for 15.1 per cent of total media spending this year, compared with just 13.8 per cent for newspapers. In 2015, mobile will surpass print’s total, at 21 per cent of all spending vs 17 per cent.”

Mobile video taking offWithin the general framework of mobile advertising,

it is also becoming increasingly clear that mobile

video advertising, specifically, is showing the greatest potential for revenue growth.

Why video? Consider this line from an Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) report published in January 2014 on mobile video: “Video as a creative type overcomes one of the biggest objections to mobile ads: using sight, sound and motion to tell a brand‘s story overcomes the limitations of the screen size.“

The report adds: “There’s a great deal to recommend mobile video advertising as an early foray into smartphones and tablets: Video is a great medium for conveying an emotional, brand-related message; consumers are increasingly thinking of their phones and tablets as video devices; and the technical hurdles for video can be easier to overcome than for complex rich media ads.“

What does this mean for publishers?For most newspaper publishers, these developments

underscore how important it is for them to have a mobile strategy that reflects the use of smartphone and tablets in their markets and orient themselves toward mobile as a primary platform. For our regular readers, this should not come as a surprise, since we have been reporting mobile growth for some time. For example, in our last issue, Eugen Russ, managing director of Austria-based Russmedia, told us he expects mobile will overtake print within two

Among the hottest topics right now for news publishers is mobile advertising – especially mobile video advertising. Just since the beginning of this year, several reports have stressed how quickly the mobile ad segment is expected to grow this year and in the next few years. Here’s a report by World News Publishing Focus senior editor Brian Veseling


to three years and that half of his company‘s more than 60 developers are now devoted to mobile only. In another recent interview, Guy Crevier, president and publisher of Canada‘s French-language daily La Presse, discussed his company‘s free iPad app, La Presse+, which launched last April and now has more than 400000 downloads. Crevier said he expects Le Presse‘s mobile readers to surpass its print ones this July.

Mobile video technology issues, sales checklist

Publishers deciding to implement mobile video ads need to address several key areas in technology and sales.

For example, there are several ways to transmit video, such as streaming, progressive download and pre-caching. Most mobile video, particularly short-format video content, is delivered by progressive download, the IAB report says, adding that it is the delivery method used by many major players, including YouTube, ESPN and CNN.

In addition, when selling mobile video advertising, the IAB says, “Publishers should have a clear list of available metrics for buyers, along with any restrictions or limitations on availability based on operating system, device, or other technological constraint.”

And don’t forget printHowever, newspaper publishers also need to keep

in mind that while mobile usage and advertising are growing rapidly, for the next few years the bulk of their advertising revenues are likely to continue to come from their print products.

As Eamonn Byrne, business director, The Byrne

Partnership, told us recently, “Make sure the externally focused mania for digital does not spill over into the revenue reality of the business... There is a danger for some that the focus on digital transmits down through the business and ends up becoming more than a focus and a different message is communicated, such as ‘digital is all; print is unimportant.’”

Publishers need to “combine what is sexy with what makes you money,” he says. “Print and digital together offer the value of print and the sex appeal of digital. For example the coming trend is digital video, but it seems newspaper companies will fail to latch on to the very fashionable growth in video digital advertising, thus missing out on the sector with the highest growth rates, higher even than the mobile sector. But it remains perfectly possible for most newspaper companies to offer print, web and video in the same package with a well described value. The opportunity seems clear but it eludes most.”

Byrne says that is not the case for TV companies, which “are becoming well versed in the 360-degree skills required to sell multimedia. As one major UK ITV network exec claimed, ‘We are a full 360-degree sales force locally and in London all (our) people can offer digital display ads, traditional linear broadcast, catch up and video, and are comfortable with the metrics. What other choice is there?’” Indeed.

(This article was originally published in the March/ April 2014 edition of World News Publishing Focus, the bi-monthly magazine published by WAN-IFRA.)

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Vinita Bali, S. Mahalingam join KSL BoardThe Board of Directors of Kasturi and Sons, publishers of The Hindu and Group publications, has

announced the induction at a Board meeting of Vinita Bali, former managing director of Brittania, and S. Mahalingam, former executive director and chief financial officer of Tata Consultancy Services, as independent directors.“Ms Vinita Bali and Mr Mahalingam are seasoned stalwarts of corporate India. We are privileged

and delighted to have them on our Board. This is a significant milestone in our institutional journey. Both Ms Bali and Mr Mahalingam will add immense value to our strategic direction and growth and enable us to adhere to the highest standards of corporate governance,” the Board statement said.

(Courtesy: BusinessLine)

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BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT WITH WAN-IFRA

Best possible conditions for print evaluation

Newspaper printing (coldset-offset) is a sophisticated and highly automated process capable of delivering a high standard of printing quality. Nevertheless the printed result cannot be predicted with 100 per cent certainty. Would you agree with this statement? And why is it so?

Bernhard Stöhr: The countless parameters of the offset process can in fact strongly influence the printed result. However, standardisation, continuing automation and innovative concepts mean that predictions in practice – within narrow tolerances – now work very well.

Peter Karp: Every production process involves tolerances, as there is no such thing as production without production deviations. For this reason, in order to evaluate the print run, tolerances are defined that describe deviations around a stable target.

How much influence does the printer have on quality?

Stöhr: Besides the many press and material parameters, the printer plays a decisive role as regards the quality of the finished product. At present no presses work fully self-sufficiently. For example, only a person can do the visual check for printing errors such as smearing and scumming. It is especially the

experience and abstractive ability of the printers that are called for at the time of matching.

Karp: The quality of a printed product will always be largely determined by the know-how of the printer concerned. The Process Standard Offset (PSO) describes how the printer can “do a good job”.

How important is the light for colour evaluation?

Karp: To quote Goethe: “Colours are acts of light,” i.e. a colour, besides the reflective characteristics of an object, is determined by the spectrum of the illumination. Because the practical viewing situations of a printed product are manifold, it is essential to define a reference type of light to ensure a safe colour communication and quality assurance. It is for this reason the D50 daylight spectrum was defined already in 1974 as the reference type of light for the graphics industry.

Light conditions at the control desk are not always ideal for conducting evaluations. How should one proceed in order to guarantee the necessary standard conditions for reliable colour matching? Is it essential to have a cabin?

Karp: It is important to have repeatable matching

Good quality is a competitive factor and frequently a sensitive issue in the area of advertising. But what is good? In the following article, two specialists, Peter Karp of Fogra and Bernhard Stöhr of impakt-medien, offer their opinions on the topic of evaluating print and the conditions necessary to do so in the printing plant. The focus here is on the core elements for the evaluation of a colour print: reference and viewing conditions. A report by World News Publishing Focus senior editor Charlotte Janischewski


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conditions. This is best achieved with the aid of special standard light cabins. Besides the influence of the matching lighting itself, the influence of the general illumination in the form of artificial or day light should not be underestimated.

What exactly is standard lighting and is it a must for visual and metrological colour matching?

Karp: Standard lighting is referred to as such because the criteria applied to check the colour reproduction characteristics of the matching illumination were stipulated, i.e. standardised, in the international ISO 3664 standard. The quality of colour reproduction, i.e. the similarity of a concrete matching illumination to the D50 range, is evaluated on the basis of various criteria. If these criteria are satisfied, a high degree of similiarity of various matching illuminations is guaranteed, thus providing a reliable basis for dependable visual colour matching. The definition of D50 for both matching

and measuring purposes helps achieve a very good consistency between measured and visual assessment.

The ISO 3664 standard for standard light was revised in 2009. What is the significance of this for the work of the newspaper printer?

Karp: In 2009, the criteria for the evaluation of the UV content in conformity with the D50 reference light were tightened up both for the measuring techniques and for the matching conditions. In conjunction with new characterising data, this facilitates the realisation of predictable results for all prints on optically brightened paper grades. Because newspaper printing is usually done on paper that is not brightened to any major degree, differences due to a variation of the UV content are correspondingly lower.

Can lamps that are in accordance with the former standard continue to be used – also in conjunction

Two softproofs in comparison: The monitor on the left shows a 'normal' softproof, the one on the right a wet softproof. The wet softproofing system was assessed by the participants in a printing technology forum held in December 2012 at the Winkeln printing centre of Tagblatt Medien in St Gallen, Switzerland, based on an actual production run of the COOP-Zeitung.


with lamps that satisfy the specifications of the revised standard? What must be taken into account?

Karp: To obtain a reliable evaluation of all prints with a non-negligible share of optical brightening agents, it is recommended to use modern lamps (in accordance with ISO 3664:2009). If you have any leftover old lamps, these can be used for matching prints containing fewer brightening agents. Tips and background information for the changeover phase are offered in the Fogra Extra no. 28 [http://bit.ly/1j1yYmu].

The monitor obviously constitutes an important component for the production of a colour-accurate digital proof. What must be taken into account?

Karp: The monitor, together with the measuring technique, standard light and softproof application is an essential component of a softproofing system. Besides a good homogeneity and low angle dependence, it must achieve a sufficient colour gamut to simulate the desired printing condition. Fogra tests the homogeneity and angle dependence of a monitor within the framework of the FograCert Softproof Monitor. The colour gamut and simulation accuracy of a complete softproofing system are recorded in the FograCert Softproofing System. Our website lists all monitors [http://bit.ly/1g2dnFz] and softproofing systems [http://bit.ly/1juf2IF] tested successfully to date. Of course, for a softproofing system to be used correctly it is essential that it should be set up correctly. Useful tips are offered in the Fogra Softproof Manual that is available free of charge in both English and German [www.fogra.org/en/fogra-publications/fogra-publications.html].

Desirable for the future are monitors with much improved angle characteristics, a higher luminance and – for certain applications – larger display screens offering a higher resolution.

Proofs – today increasingly softproofs – at the press control desk serve the newspaper printer as a reference for visual assessment. Why is this task so difficult?

Stöhr: The problem with newspaper printing is that in today’s usual matching process – to put it in a slightly exaggerated way – two completely different things are compared. Independent of whether he uses a soft or hard copy proof, what the printer has at his

disposal is a proof print produced in accordance with the standard ISO newspaper profiles (ISO newspaper 26v4 and 30v4). It should be pointed out at this stage that the relevant characterisation data are based on dry measuring data. After he removes a freshly printed copy, the printer compares a ‘wet’ product with a proof for a dry product. Due to the ink penetration drying process that is accompanied by massive colour gamut shifts, no direct matching can possibly work. This is where the printer must use his head: he must evaluate indirectly and decide which changes to the product should be carried out in the wet state to obtain the customer’s specifications for the product in a dry state.

You made a major contribution to the development of a wet softproof concept for newspaper printing.

Peter Karp

Peter Karp is a prepress specialist at Fogra (Forschungsgesellschaft Druck e.V.) in Munich where he focuses on, among other things, the topics of soft-proofing and standard viewing conditions for print evaluation. At Printing Summit 2014, he spoke on the subject of standard lighting, explaining the differences that exist while also addressing the subject of optical brightening agents (OBA), which is of no major significance for normal newspaper printing but is of relevance in cases where whiter paper grades are used for semi-commercial jobs.

Bernhard StöhrBernhard Stöhr is a product

engineer at impakt-medien, where he is responsible for the development of the web-based iQIP quality monitoring system. Within the framework of a joint project of coop Schweiz, impakt-medien and Munich University, he made a major contribution to the development of the wet softproofing system. In this time, he also wrote his master’s thesis at Munich University, where he has worked part-time since September 2013 as a scientific associate in the printing and media technology course of studies. He also reported on the topic at Printing Summit 2014.


MORE ABOUT PRINTING SUMMIT 2014The non-technical aspects covered at the conference included the following:

Newspapers are their own worst enemiesWhat can newspapers learn from the magazine market? A whole lot, according to Samir Husni from the

Magazine Innovation Center at the University of Mississippi, USA. Husni, also known as Mr Magazine (www.mrmagazine.com), is convinced that the newspaper crisis is in part a result of their own doing: “Our problem is not the ink or the paper; we ourselves are the problem! Newspapers do not die... but some commit suicide.” He accuses the newspaper industry of preaching its own demise.

The media landscape is changing – it is no longer a matter of addressing a mass audience, but rather individual persons. He claims the secret to success is: “Think first of your audience, concentrate on your customers” and “Invest not only in digital.” “Having a Second Screen is essential, but retain print in your multimedia mix.” He sees good prospects for newspapers, provided that “their offering is sufficiently, indispensably relevant.“

This is what perfect reader loyalty looks likeAdmittedly, what publisher Iwan Ittermann does with his +3 Magazin cannot be simply applied to a

daily newspaper. But it is still worthwhile taking a look at the concept and the philosophy behind it. His judgement: “Today’s newspapers are no longer in tune with the Zeitgeist.” Because the news items are known already from other media (Internet), newspapers have focused on commenting on them. In doing so, they get their opinion across to the readers, but without any feedback. Ittermann expects a newspaper to motivate the readers to participate.

With the +3 Magazin that he founded in 2012, financed entirely from advertising and distributed as an occasional free supplement with the Süddeutsche Zeitung, he has achieved this. Readers are invited – using email, SMS or Facebook – to submit their opinion on three topics that are printed as questions in the supplement and published on the website [www.plus-drei.de]. The next issue then consists of experts’ statements and readers’ opinions. In this way, readers actively participate in determining the content.

Print and online cleverly combined in Sun+Sun+ is a paid digital offering of the popular newspaper The Sun (News UK) launched last summer to

coincide with the start of the football season in the U.K. Rob Hedges, associate managing editor of The Sun, stressed the important role of the print product for the newspaper’s digital strategy.

The concept consists of offering exclusive contents online as well as on the tablet and smartphone (e.g. video clips of Premier League goals) to attract paying users to the digital offering while retaining the loyalty of the readers of the print product – and this is how it works: Imprinted in every newspaper copy is an individual 12-digit alphanumeric code. News UK installed Kodak digital printing prints on all the web offset presses used for imprinting the codes. Whoever collects 20 of these codes gets free access to Sun+ for one month via the app.

Hedges summarises his findings from the introductory phase in one sentence: “You cannot do enough to get your message to the reader.” As he reports, there was massive advertising for the offering on the front pages of The Sun both before and during the introduction. But despite this, far too many readers did not use the code because they did not understand its purpose, or they were quite simply stuck in their reading habits.

In the meantime, the number of code users has surpassed the 15000 mark. “Seen in the context of a sold circulation of 2 million copies, this number may seem low, but these people are regular buyers of the newspaper. And in this way we obtain a great deal of customer data for market research,” Hedges said.(By special arrangement with WAN-IFRA. This article was originally published in the May/ June 2014 edition of World News Publishing Focus, the bi-monthly magazine published by WAN-IFRA.)


What exactly is meant by a wet softproof and what would be the advantages for the printer if he were to use it in his daily work?

Stöhr: The decisive difference to standard proofs is the fact that for matching or press control purposes it is profiles based on wet characterisation data that are used. The complexity of the topic – and thus the know-how of impakt-medien – consists of producing wet measuring data with the aid of intelligent measuring concepts and suitable measuring techniques. The advantage for the printer is obvious. By using the wet (soft) proof, it is in fact now possible to carry out a direct visual evaluation of the printed product. For press control, the printer checks the ‘wet’ copy against a wet proof and thus reliably obtains the desired result within the ISO tolerances in the dry finished product. In this way, the quality results as a whole become more reliably repeatable. The subjective adjustment of the still wet print to the softproof that describes the dry

state of the print is replaced by the realistic simulation of the wet print condition.

What is needed to produce a wet softproof ?Stöhr: The basic prerequisites for a softproof, such

as a suitable monitor, standard lighting and suitable measuring techniques, apply equally for a wet softproof. The change in the basic conditions, such as paper, ink and rubber blanket, represent a special challenge for the wet softproof. This causes wet profiles to ‘age’ to a certain degree and calls for a fast and intelligent updating of the wet profiles. For this case, impakt-medien, within the framework of a research project, developed suitable measuring elements and a practical concept.

(This article was originally published in the May/June 2014 edition of World News Publishing Focus, the bi-monthly magazine published by WAN-IFRA.)

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LOOKING BACK

TOI gains from its prediction models

It turned out to be quite a well coordinated presentation by K. Muralidharan, chief manager, Engineering, and Indrajit Sen, deputy

chief manager, Production, of The Times of India. Muralidharan is an engineering graduate from the College of Engineering, Anna University, Chennai, and Sen, who has some expertise in systems engineering, is in charge of production planning and operations at TOI’s Lucknow plant; he is also associated with analytics and data mining..

Starting off with the oft heard phrase ‘business success is gauged by customer expectation and satisfaction’, Muralidharan said TOI’s endeavour was always to deliver the best quality possible. Explaining the scale of TOI operations – 35 print sites, billion newspaper pages every day, tonnes of newsprint – he posed the question: how do you deliver best quality on time, every day, and meeting the budget? This, he was convinced, could not be achieved without production excellence. “In any manufacturing process, waste is generated. When there are various factor influencing the process, there are bound to be deviations,” he said, referring to the challenges that would always be there to be handled.

The TOI vision, Muralidharan pointed out, was clearly focused on innovation, sustainable technology, and leadership in print and beyond. And to achieve all that, technology and skill competencies had been upgraded. He and Sen then went on to refer to the story of Noah’s Ark from which they learnt some lessons. “Don’t miss the boat, grab opportunities to be in business, else you will become extinct. Work together as a team, plan, update skills, develop second lines, plan resource utilisation, be transparent,”

Muralidharan said. These were some of the value systems TOI enthused its staff to follow every day, to create a condusive environment to achieve the vision...

TOI follows Six Sigma, an established business tool proven worldwide, which helps identify fault lines and rectify them, leading many a time to breakthrough improvements. “You may ask is it required to control the process. Yes, it is – it helps cost reduction, eliminate defects and standardise processes,” Muralidharan said, explaining how the statistical process control (SPC) journey in TOI had begun. “Newsprint, utility costs – definite metrics for these parameters were identified. We could compare performance to that of the previous year.”

Muralidharan said the main challenge was to change the mindset of the people (staff). However, the task was made easy because the staff on the shop floor realised that by following tools such as SPC, their work was being made easier and smarter, and that value was being added. This led to the formation of Continuous Improvement Groups (CIGs) in 2011. TOI participated in quality contests and won awards against fierce competition. All that went to boost the morale of the production team.

Today, the mindset towards processes had completely changed at TOI, Muralidharan said. For a long time, for example, quality was maintained by looking t the average or mean, but “we decided to look at variations... it’s like crossing a water body without knowing the maximum depth.”

Some of the SPC projects at TOI are improving the specific energy generation ratio (SEGR) in relation to the use of diesel generators; improving newsprint

The Times of India team has achieved production excellence with the help of a paradigm shift from a conventional post-mortem analysis to the prediction model by adopting Six Sigma methodology and statistical process controls. Sashi Nair takes a close look at a presentation made at WAN-IFRA 2013


yield (by aligning all web detectors in one line from the printing units, for instance), and focusing on the condition of forklifts and transport vehicles.

Taking off from where Muralidharan left, Sen stressed that CIGs were really the backbone of all production efforts. Each CIG team has 5-6 members with a group leader, a plant level coordinator maintains the synergy between the CIGs, each team works with its own interests, and each with its own targets. “However, if you are not aligned to the overall goals then you achieve almost nothing,” he said. Sen pointed to the best practices manual (initiated by the staff) that is considered the bible on the shop floor; it is updated and referred to daily. He referred to the process map that showed how many times the reelstands were handled, wastage on the shop floor, the causes, and ink and components utilisation.

So, what was achieved? Newsprint use grew by 6 per cent during 2012-13. “An increase of one page in a reel gives a saving of Rs 5 crore; so, if there is a 6-page improvement, TOI saves Rs 30 crore. It’s a recurring saving,” said Sen. Severl utility initiatives had yielded results: conversion from the digital grid was accomplished in three major locations: Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata; SEGR was improved; fixed cost on unit consumption was reduced; an energy audit was conducted for all locations, with the

audit identifying energy waste, improving machine efficiency, and recycling of waste.

As TOI was expanding business, unit consumption was increasing daily over the years. However, adoption of Six Sigma and SPC practices enabled the company to reduce cost by 36 per cent even as power consumption increased by 20 per cent. “We managed to keep the intermediate cost flat... in terms of money, Rs 10-15 crore saved annually.”

The overall production success led to what was termed VIP Projects. Following the rule that prediction was the best method for rectifying defects; prediction models were made out for newsprint and utility costs – identifying inputs, collecting extensive data for such inputs, and validating actual results against predicted ones. It was hard work collecting all the data across the TOI branches – 5000 data points were collected, analysed and an equation (consisting of a constant and a multiplying factor) built up. “Once you have the prediction model in place everything becomes crystal clear, everything appears in black and white. Prediction models have to be prepared based on an individual company’s process inputs. You get more focused, more energised and want to work in a smarter way, to bring down cost and achieve process-driven production excellence. After all, good quality is good business,” concluded Sen.

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Visibly happy faces at the conference (l-r): Indrajit Sen, deputy chief manager-Production; K. Muralidharan, chief manager-Engineering; and Sanat Hazra, technical director, The Times of India.

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A realistic look at serving readers better

LOOKING BACK

His session was titled Newsroom 4.0. Reflective of the changing face of newsrooms across the world. The soft-spoken James Lamont,

managing editor, Financial Times, the UK, who has global responsibility for strategic planning for the editorial department, had some hard-hitting messages for the audience, which comprised publishers, editors and journalists. Lamont had been based in New Delhi for four years earlier, so he knew the Indian context well. In fact, he learnt lot of things in India which he took back with him to the UK. “One of them is what a wonderful print environment this is... wonderful for a journalist to be in India. India is a newspaper journalist’s paradise – enjoy it while you can. Wonderful plurality and diversity and on the whole a free information culture,” he said.

“People have got new jobs, job titles, new skills,

new beats, the way we write stories is different from what we were doing 20 years ago... 10 years ago... 5 years ago... even five minutes ago.” For FT, a media group that today has videos, blogs, websites, etc, it is difficult to believe it was present only in print a few years ago. In the UK and the US, newspapers were not thriving, said Lamont. “A very different kind of environment. But a very fast-moving environment, very unpredictable and things change very quickly.”

For decades, at FT, a global newspaper with 150 foreign correspondents, overseeing their work was the typical job of a managing editor; also ensuring that money wasn’t lost. But Lamont’s job now is different – it is all about overseeing the digital transition, trying to integrate print with online in the newsroom and elsewhere. FT’s No. 1 strategic priority is that the market is changing and the response has to be really fast. The race to accelerate digital subscriptions is not only very competitive, it’s a cut-throat race. “It’s a global market, (competition) not between cities or regions any longer. We must try raise digital subscriptions while maintaining a quality print product for as long as we can and earn enough revenue to sustain 600 journalists. It’s a technological race and the rules for newspapers are being rewritten,” Lamont said.

Learning to adapt to the times has also meant retooling traditional print journalists and equipping them with skills to swim in the digital river. Every one of FT’s journalists has to go through a training programme. “The morning conference (morning prayers) in the newsroom is now called earlier, it used to be at 11 am, the agenda-setting meeting with the editor. Then a meeting at 5.30 pm. Now we need to

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James Lamont, managing editor, Financial Times, providing a realistic summary of the changing face of Journalism.

A year ago, in Bangalore, James Lamont, managing editor, Financial Times, the UK, spoke about seismic changes going on in newsrooms worldwide and how newsrooms have become extremely dynamic, volatile and creative places. The script hasn’t changed much the past year. Sashi Nair reports


understand the news agenda earlier because we need to publish earlier. So, the first meeting of the day is at 6 am, then afternoon possibly to discuss about the following day’s website – it’s all changed,” explained Lamont.

Referring to FT having celebrated its 125th birthday and looking forward to another 125 years, Lamont wondered: “Are we going to be in the market? Will our children’s grandchildren read newspapers? Brands with the technology are coming through, others are falling apart. Today, it’s all about apps, mobiles and digital presentations’ it’s where most of our talent, creativity and investment goes. Our best journalists are in that space.”

In recent times, more of FT’s revenue is coming from content, not from advertising – a “massive moment” as Lamont calls it. “People pay subscription – about 2.5 pounds for FT, about 250 rupees... we have prices hiked... advertising meanwhile has gone down. We have to have good enough content for people to pay. Digital subscription is rising 14 per cent; we would like it to be 25 per cent but we on that path. More people are subscribing to digital than print, and print circulation has become profitable. Many newspapers print but do not make nay money. FT, for example, has cut print circulation, from 150000 in the US to 50000 – to make it profitable. Paid digital circulation is overtaking (100000 more) print sales and the gap is widening. Many of our journalists do not se the digital transformation coming – it’s difficult to. So we have had to communicate this to them, saying, don’t worry about print declining, more people are reading your stories online.”

So, perhaps more people are reading the FT than ever before. “The beauty of online is that the whole world can read you. We are hopeful of getting more readers in India. We need not have a print edition here.”

Lamont raised the point about big changes in ownership and gave the example of Jeff Bezos buying the Washington Post. “Suddenly, a start-up was buying a serious newspaper group with an amazing history... journalists are losing their jobs, the golden era is gone, newsrooms are getting smaller, as the ad revenue model weakens, jobs go.” Yet, Lamont saw a silver lining to all this: people reading on mobile devices such as iPads, iPhones, tablets, people are reading on the move.

“Fifty per cent of digital subscription is from mobile

apps; a third of the traffic on FT is on mobile. Mobile advertising is also shooting up – 26 per cent growth. Better news is the future; North America and Asia constitute a huge chunk of the mobile growth market. The big buzzword is engagement. Now readers can write and tell you whether they like your article or not. It’s an amazing flexible environment,” he said.

Lamont, however, had words of caution. “You got to have good accurate reporting. In the online world, it should be easy to navigate else no point in having excellent content. Pricing is important. Customer service is key. You have to help your readers to navigate. It’s possibly one of the most creative times in the media industry.”

FT, Lqamont was clear, had to have a take on a breaking news story. “It’s a market we have to be in. We now have a live desk with people who edit and write stories at the same time, interactive graphics that explains in ten minutes, online editors who focus only the digital product. We think about digital first, think about the newspaper later.” There’s only one global edition of FT compared to several editions earlier. Lamont added that FT was using much more date than ever before. “Ten per cent of articles account for 50 per cent of page views; some articles are hardly read. We understand the rhythm of our readership much better now. We must look at personalised subscriptions in the future, should be able to tailor online subscription to a reader’s interests.” <

Visit the redesigned

website of the Press Institute of

India www.pressinstitute.in


Data everywhere… but only a drop of insight

Is this real, or hype promoted by people who want to sell us expensive hardware, software or services? The answer is in between. Yes, big data

and analytics can have an amazing impact on customer acquisition and retention, growth and profitability. But it can't answer every question – and there is a real danger of companies spending tons of money, only to end up with white elephants.

Organisations such as banks or insurance companies or e-tailers or retailers have access to enormous amounts of customer information, or can derive brilliant insights from the mass of consumer data available across social and non-social media. But does this apply to every company?

Generally, big data solutions make sense when volumes are huge (millions of customer records and transaction data), velocity of data addition is high (thousands or millions of transactions/data changes happening every day), and when all the data comes from multiple, non-integrated sources.

For companies in more mundane B2B businesses that deal with a small number of customers, and generate fewer transactions, big data may not even exist. Also, corporate customers usually don’t talk about their likes and dislikes on social media or the www. Data, if available, is more finite and analysis may not require sophisticated databases or analytical tools.

However, the biggest factor that leads to failure is that companies (and managers) don't make good use of information in the first place. Even with information

they already have. This is usually due to the lack of a culture where data is constantly or regularly being analysed to deliver insights, which in turn guides decision making. This culture and set of associated competencies don't develop simply because a company spends millions on a big data or analytics solution. Unfortunately, over-emphasis on technology is drowning out the insight piece.

Two years ago, a large consumer goods manufacturer approached us to help them analyse web (social media) data for customer perceptions of their products and brands. The brief was wonderfully vague – no thought about questions the research should answer, or the nature of insights sought. It was clear that there was a directive from the top – let's do social media analytics, but nobody had thought through what or why. During our efforts to devise a solution, we asked to see typical customer feedback data already collected by their call center. To our surprise, the data was in a huge mess – full of errors, wrong categorisation, important fields were blank or incorrectly filled in. Nobody was even looking at this data, forget about analysis. Valuable (existing) data, provided by actual customers (who

These days it appears next to impossible to ignore big data and analytics. Big data is the next big thing, and analytics will provide answers to all our problems. When we're stumped, big data will tell us what to do. And if big data doesn't have the answer, then don’t worry - we can look at “small” data. And if we have no data, we can always mine it from social media or the Internet. We will make better marketing decisions, acquire more customers, improve profitability and beat the pants off competition. All key elements for news publishing houses today. So what are we waiting for? Read what Arun Jethmalani has to say

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had taken the trouble to call in) was simply being ignored. At the same time, they wanted to spend a lot of money on collecting fresh data, from people chattering on the web.

The same thing has happened with business intelligence software. Touted as a revolutionary tool for decision making, many companies bought software that could pull data from ERPs or CRMs and provide magical answers. Unfortunately, most companies don't know how to use the software, or even what data is available. We were asked to do an analysis of likely target segments for an IT products company – and this was to be based on an extensive (and fairly expensive) customer survey. While designing the study, we asked for existing CRM data

– and discovered a treasure trove of information. There was data for more than a thousand past interactions with prospects and clients, which hadn't been cleaned or even looked at. Eventually, we were able to provide actionable insights without spending a lot of money on acquiring new data.

In the final analysis, it’s always good to go back to

first principles. Start with business needs or objectives, and what insights or information will help decision makers achieve these objectives. Then drill down to what answers are needed, and therefore what questions need answering (key intelligence questions or KIQs). It’s only after this that one can decide on tools, methodology and data availability.

Data analytics can surely provide profound insights and answers, but only if you know what questions to ask – and how to ask them.

(Courtesy: ValueNotes/ www.valuenotes.biz. The writer is the managing director of ValueNotes, which specialises in the management of competitive and market intelligence, information and research. His weekly investment column, called Value for Money, published in the Sunday Economic Times, ran for almost ten years.)

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Ad Age inks deal with Times Internet Times Internet (TIL) has inked a partnership with Advertising Age to launch Advertising Age (Ad

Age) India. In addition to a comprehensive coverage of the strategic topics, insights, news, trends and ideas across the region, Ad Age India will work with thought leaders across the industry to deliver value to its readers. The alliance is a part of Times Local Partners (TLP), a business unit of TIL that partners with global digital companies across publishing, product and platform to help them launch/ grow in India, APAC and ME. Ad Age joins the TLP portfolio, which has already rolled out the Indian editions of Askmen, Gizmodo, Lifehacker, Techradar, Remodelista, ReadWrite, Business Insider and IGN.

Talking about the partnership, Puneet Singhvi, Business Head, Times Local Partners said, “We are very excited about bringing Ad Age to India. Ad Age has achieved an iconic status amongst the media and marketing community globally and we look forward creating a strong platform for the fraternity through Ad Age India. We are confident that Ad Age India will soon become a marketing communication brand to trust and the one that the industry follows. We also plan to roll out the regional versions of the highly revered Ad Age Lists soon. ”

TLP will be putting together an editorial and insights team to publish local industry news, trends and analysis alongside the global coverage of strategic topics for marketers and media. TLP will also leverage the media reach that the Times Group has across platforms to grow Ad Age India strongly.

(Courtesy: exchange4media.com)

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Industry updates


Thanthi finds QuadTech’s MultiCam useful

The Daily Thanthi Group in Chennai has achieved significant time and waste savings at five sites of the leading Tamil-language newspaper, following the installation of QuadTech's Register Guidance and Ribbon Control systems with MultiCam. Improved print quality is also credited with contributing to increased circulation and readership. "Until the installation of the QuadTech register and ribbon systems with MultiCam, we were measuring colour and colour register manually," said S. Balasubramanian Adityan, Daily Thanthi director. "The biggest challenge came when the number of colour pages increased; it was very difficult for operators to control register on our high-speed, double width and double circumference presses."The installation of the QuadTech systems benefits

us in five ways: we can shorten make-ready times, reduce startup waste, achieve consistent color, and optimise labour and press usage, while also

contributing towards a better product and increased readership," he said.

The technology has been installed recently at four of Daily Thanthi's plants: in Cuddalore, Coimbatore, Tirunelveli and Nagercoil, in Tamil Nadu. Two additional QuadTech systems have been in operation at the group's headquarters in Chennai since 2010-11. The choice of the QuadTech systems were based on the company's proven technology, reliability locally available spare parts and service support, and QuadTech's high market share in India."Since installing the systems, we have seen a 20 per

cent reduction in the time taken to achieve good register, and a 10 per cent reduction in waste. Our ability to maintain consistent colour throughout the run has also increased, giving us better overall quality," said Adityan. "We used to face a challenge after each auto-pasting cycle, with variations in register, but that has been completely eliminated."

The QuadTech Register Guidance System with MultiCam offers unmatched colour-register performance with operational flexibility. With lateral and circumferential register control, MultiCam searches marks as small as 0.36mm (0.014in) up to 30 times per second, even during make-ready and upsets

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QuadTech’s MultiCam is the world’s best-selling register control camera, with over 10000 installed worldwide.

Attending a press inauguration at Daily Thanthi are (l-r): Vinodhkumar Balakrishnan, QuadTech regional sales manager; R. Chandrasekaran, Daily Thanthi chief general manager; S. Balasubramanian Adityan, Daily Thanthi director; Sabarish Subrmanian, QuadTech service engineer; and D. Ranganathan, assistant general manager (Production & IT).

Industry Updates


in web tension. The QuadTech Ribbon Control System with MultiCam provides a high level of ribbon control tasks including cut-off, print-to-cut, print-to-fold and crossover register. Both systems are operated from QuadTech's ICONplatform with a user-friendly interface that facilitates quick and easy job setup, minimises waste and integrates with downstream equipment such as UV coaters, perforators and rotary cutters.

Speaking for QuadTech, Vinodhkumar Balakrishnan, regional sales manager, QuadTech, said: "Daily Thanthi Group has been carrying out an investment program, renewing its press and ancillary technologies in its print centers. This has contributed not only to better print quality but also to a notable increase in the paper's circulation. We're very pleased that the Daily Thanthi Group has chosen QuadTech as a partner to bring about the changes that are contributing to this growth."

Established in 1942 with a mission to educate and create awareness among all sections of the Tamil community, Daily Thanthi today is a full-color broadsheet newspaper printed in 16 locations with a circulation of more than 1.5 million and an estimated readership in excess of 7 million. While carrying a full portfolio of news and features, the paper continues to fulfill its original educational mission, publishing model examination questions and answers, past examination papers and an annual career guide. With its long print runs and 15 editions covering a vast and varied area, spanning all of Tamil

Nadu, and now including a Mumbai edition and an online edition, Daily Thanthi reaches beyond Tamil Nadu to the worldwide Tamil community.

QuadTech is a worldwide leader and innovator of performance proven press control technology. Founded in 1979, QuadTech sells its automated auxiliary control systems in more than 100 countries to the web offset newspaper and commercial markets, packaging and converting markets, and publication gravure market. Headquartered in Sussex, WI, USA, QuadTech maintains a worldwide network of sales and service operations, including facilities strategically located throughout Europe, and in Japan, China, Singapore, India, and North and South America.

QuadTech’s ICON platform user interface is designed to be intuitive and easy to use, requiring very little training.

Iwate Nippo orders two Mitsubishi 4 x 1 presses

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Printing & Packaging Machinery (MHI-PPM) announced the recent contract signing with Iwate Nippo for the purchase of two Mitsubishi 4 x 1 Diamondspirit newspaper offset presses. Founded in 1876, Iwate Nippo will celebrate its 140th anniversary with the arrival of the new Mitsubishi presses and the startup of its

new flagship printing center scheduled for the early summer of 2016. Iwate Nippo is headquartered in Morioka City, the capital of Iwate Prefecture. The prefecture was one of the hardest hit areas devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011.

Shaping the future with a handshake – Iwate Nippo chairman Hiroshi Miura (center right), Iwate Nippo executive director Katsuhiro Yamazoe (right), MHI-PPM president Masami Shimizu (centre left), and MHI-PPM general manager of Sales Headquarters Yasuyuki Okurano (left).

Industry Updates


Müller Martini takes up services for Heidelberg

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) and Muller Martini have reached an agreement on the transfer of Heidelberg’s service business for saddle

Following the earthquake, Iwate Nippo is one

of those who have exercised the leadership in the prefecture’s planning and support of social needs, and has significantly contributed to the region’s relief and recovery efforts. One such effort was a special report compiled and published by Iwate Nippo about the Great East Japan Earthquake. The report looked at what was done and not done in terms of earthquake preparations, and also emphasised the requirements necessary for the restoration of affected residents’ livelihood, industries, and local and regional societies.

With a daily circulation of 210000 copies, Iwate Nippo is widely popular among local residents and enjoys the No. 1 market share of all newspapers sold in the prefecture. When the company started to work on its new printing center project, it appointed MHI-PPM as a consultant, because MHI-PPM first developed 4 x 1 press suitable to Japanese newspaper production, and is now by far the most

The Mitsubishi 4 x 1 Diamondspirit press. MHI-PPM was established on July 1, 2010 as a fully owned group company of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Headquartered in Hiroshima, Japan, MHI-PPM handles all facets related to Mitsubishi’s full lines of commercial web offset presses, newspaper offset presses and paper converting machinery, including design, production, sales, service and after-sales service support. An extensive network of domestic sales and service branches and overseas sales agents and distributors support MHI-PPM operations.

well experienced 4 x 1 press supplier with more than 30 Diamondspirit press installations. The company’s new printing center project is proceeding smoothly in a timely manner with MHI-PPM’s sound advice on production equipment, printing materials, and energy supply requirements appropriate to the region’s colder climate and environment. Right advice and sufficient installation records made Iwate Nippo comfortably select the Diamondspirit presses for its new printing center.

Both the new presses will be able to print 40-page newspapers with 24 pages in colour, while Iwate Nippo’s current presses can only print 16 pages of its 40-page daily in colour. After the startup of the new Diamondspirit presses, the superbprint quality of all the 24 colour pages will surely enhance the publication’s news stories and other vibrant articles, and further encourage residents to continue moving forward against the earthquake.

The Diamondspirit presses for Iwate Nippo are rated at 80000 cph with a web width of 1626mm (64 in). Each will be configured with three 4/4 tower printing units, two 1/1 tower printing units, one 2:2 double rotary folder and five reelstands. The presses will be operated by the Mitsubishi press control system with automated features that include ink presetting with CTP interface, various press presets, automatic colour register control and other production-enhancing offerings.

In addition, the presses will be equipped with the fully automatic rail-type web threading system, which enables individual webbing up of two ribbons even through turner bars and bay windows up to RTF without manual intervention, and automatic dual web tension control, which reduces cutoff fluctuations by individually controlling web tension at the reelstand as well as the in-feed. With the latest order, MHI-PPM further focuses on solution-targeted marketing, growing with customers in both domestic and overseas markets, and responding to diversified needs of newspaper production.

Industry Updates


Mohn Media orders new hybrid Sunday press

Mohn Media, the multi-discipline print service provider based in Gütersloh, Germany, has ordered a 24-page Goss Sunday 2000 web offset press equipped with unique in-line capabilities. The ability to source the wide-web, single-circumference press and a full range of in-line finishing equipment in a complex configuration from a single supplier was of key importance for Mohn Media in choosing Goss.

Due for installation in the fourth quarter of 2014, the Goss press line ordered by Mohn Media includes five Sunday 2000 units with a 1450 mm web width and semi-automatic plate loading, a pinless folder, Contiweb CS zero-speed splicer and Ecotherm dryer as well as an additional made-to-order web drying configuration featuring further chill rolls and a remoistening unit. Goss will also equip the press for inkjet personalisation and supply a range of Contiweb Vits components for in-line coating, gluing, die cutting and pre folding.

According to Axel Hentrei, chief executive officer of Mohn Media, the aim of this investment is to streamline processes for more production flexibility:

“Once the new Goss press line is up and running, we

anticipate significant time-savings on regular jobs as well as less waste and a more efficient use of resources in general.”

Mohn Media specified the 1450 mm wide/six-pages-across format for its press in order to benefit from the high production capacity of up to 65000 impressions per hour, in combination with the agility of a single-circumference (two-pages-around) format. This was another capability which recommended Goss know-how, according to Hentrei – not only because Sunday gapless technology has pioneered and perfected wide-web printing, but also due to the industry-leading Goss expertise in web handling from reelstand to folder.

Web integrated in-feeds and web guides maintain exact web tension and alignment in the zero speed Contiweb CS splicer. These features combine with a shaftless drive system to prevent web breaks and ensure high print quality. As well as a full complement of web guides and tension controls throughout the entire press system, the Sunday 2000 press for Mohn Media will also feature web severers, web catchers and web break detection technology.

The trademark gapless blanket technology of Sunday presses eliminates the vibrations and the associated print defects such as bump streaking, doubling and web flutter, enabling high-quality printing at higher speeds and on wider webs. Additional standard Sunday press features – like heavy-duty side frames and 1:1 in-line cylinder stacks that are force loaded

Mohn Media has ordered a 24-page Goss Sunday 2000 web offset press equipped with unique in-line capabilities.

stitchers and perfect binders. Muller Martini will take over the worldwide service and spare parts business and the complete know-how of the machines produced in Leipzig by the end of 2014.

As part of its strategic realignment, Heidelberg has decided to close its site in Leipzig and to withdraw from the saddle stitcher and perfect binder business. The transfer of services to Müller Martini is an optimal solution for Heidelberg customers since print finishing is Müller Martini’s core business and the company boasts a global service network with strong spare parts and support readiness geared to that segment. “We will do everything we can to transfer the know-how efficiently to our organization because we want to provide Heidelberg customers with reliable service support smoothly and seamlessly,” says Bruno Müller, CEO of Muller Martini.

The planned transfer will enable both companies to strengthen their respective core businesses. The two companies have agreed to keep the contract value confidential.

Industry Updates


and bearerless – also help to minimize vibrations and maximize flexural stiffness.“The sophistication of this configuration calls

for a safe pair of hands on the project from start to finish,” concludes Hentrei. “At Mohn Media, our core business is the creation and management of full-ranging media solutions that involve many different skills and processes for our customers. We understand very well how important it is to have the right skills, experience, process knowledge and attention-to-detail. We feel confident that Goss is the right partner in this project.”

Mohn Media is a leading provider of printing and media services in Europe. The company devises and implements integrated solutions from marketing, creative and content services to prepress, printing, post-press processing and lettershop services, as well as logistics and customer relationship management solutions.

ABB focus on innovationABB, one of the leading suppliers of automation

solutions for the newspaper industry, will be focusing on its latest innovations that can contribute to business success in newspaper production. These includes ABB’s latest modular press retrofit solutions that are tailored to almost any press type. These allow the life of a newspaper press to be extended in the most cost-effective way possible. The modular solutions include drives, controls, control console and press management system replacements.

ABB will be showing the latest releases of several of its production management systems, all based on Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8.1. The new release of the press management system MPS Production includes the completely redeveloped Online Production Viewer, the web-based production monitoring module. The latest releases of the plant-wide production management system MPS Cockpit and the reporting system MPS Insight include a new CSV import function for mailroom data that allows the generation of a wide range of detailed reports.

The ABB team will also be explaining the advantages of its highly successful MPS Distribution Data Planner that is greatly simplifying the handling of the distribution of third-party orders at a number of sites in Europe.

KBA pre-tax earnings almost balanced

Earnings of the Koenig & Bauer Group (KBA) were up significantly on the first quarter and 2013. Following a 3.1% rise in group sales to €517.8m year-on-year, group pre-tax earnings (EBT) were almost balanced after the first half-year at –€0.1m due to a pre-tax profit of €12m in the second quarter of 2014. The world’s second-largest press manufacturer still posted EBT of –€12.1m after the first three months, and a pre-tax loss of –€8.8m in 2013. The management board stated previous initiatives and the higher-margin product mix as reasons for this considerable improvement in earnings.

KBA president and CEO Claus Bolza-Schünemann expects the first cost reductions resulting from Fit@All already in the second half of the year. The programme for group realignment to a shrunken and fundamentally changed press market has been in place since the beginning of 2014. He refers to the strain placed on the manufacturing sector and KBA’s important export business by the unforeseeable impacts of the crisis in the Ukraine, sanctions against Russia and other conflicts. Nevertheless, he stands by his goal published in spring of group sales of €1bn to €1.1bn, assuming that no major turmoil occurs. The management board also expects the significant improvement to earnings compared to 2013 to continue in the second half of this year.

Weak growth and currencies in key threshold countries, and the unstable political environment acted as a brake on international demand for sheetfed offset presses in the second quarter of 2014.

Industry Updates


According to recent statistics issued by the VDMA

(German Machinery and Plant Manufacturer’s Association), orders for printing presses in the second quarter were down 16.2 per cent on the previous year given weak growth and currencies in important threshold countries, and the unstable political environment. KBA bucked the trend thanks to its broad product spectrum with a 2.6 per cent increase in group order intake to €456m. The total volume of incoming orders in the web and special press segment rose by 10.7% to €166.9m.

Deliveries to Europe (not including Germany) rose from €129.8m the year before to €209.4m. This historic KBA core market gained ground again with 40.4 per cent of group sales compared to 2013 (25.8 per cent). Sales attributable to the growth region Asia and the Pacific increased slightly from €122.5m to €125.7m, with this region’s contribution remaining more or less stable at 24.3 per cent. In North America the slump in business with newspaper presses led to a decline in sales to €52m, or 12.6 per cent to 10 per cent of the total. Revenue in Africa and Latin America came to €44.7m and 8.7 per cent of group sales.

The implementation of Fit@All has been a top priority since the beginning of this year. In recent months the company has made good progress with the planned reduction in capacity of 1,100 to 1,500 staff at production sites in Germany and abroad as well as with the bundling of similar production islands at just one site. Cancellation agreements and phased retirement schemes, or collective wage agreements and social compensation plans were agreed with over 700 employees. At the end of June 2014 the number of employees on group payroll stood at 6110 compared to 6158 twelve months earlier.

QuadTech, Gallus partner to offer productivity benefits

QuadTech announced a new partnership with the Gallus Group (St Gallen, Switzerland), to provide QuadTech closed-loop colour control and color measurement systems for its offset, flexo and gravure presses. Utlising QuadTech technology, Gallus customers can now quicken make-ready and offer ultimate print quality and productivity, with in-line colour management.

The QuadTech SpectralCamdelivers L*a*b* data for precise, cost-effective color management.

With a typical ROI of less than two years, QuadTech color control systems are now an essential consideration for many web printers looking to meet changing customer requirements and demands for high colour standards, with consistent repeatability from run-to-run and site-to-site. Thomas Weber, Supplier Relationship Management at Gallus comments, "Gallus has vast market experience and the widest customer base in the label printing industry. However, we recognised the opportunity to partner with QuadTech to provide our customers with state-of-the-art spectral colour measurement and colour control systems, with the automation to drive further reduction in make-readies and savings in valuable substrate waste."

Designed for offset printers, the QuadTech Color Control System with SpectralCam provides automated, in-line, closed-loop color control. On-the-fly and at full press speeds, it adjusts ink keys to maintain specified color targets, preventing avoidable waste and operator inaccuracies. Flexo and gravure printers can also benefit from the QuadTech Color Measurement System with SpectralCam, which enables in-line monitoring of all packaging substrates, including challenging translucent, transparent and reflective films. Colour variations are sent to the operator in real-time to change colour specifications, eliminating press stoppages and the manual process of removing sections of the web to measure color.

The ability to control colour on problematic substrates such as films has been a significant objective for the printing industry. QuadTech has been able to solve this, by utilising its web stabiliser to remove common issues of web movement and

Industry Updates


sheets as supplements or stitched inserts in fashion magazines.

Covers make up 80 per cent of the jobs produced on the KBA Rapida 106. The other 20 per cent comprises sheetfed jobs in connection with web printing. As the number of sheetfed copies is linked to the web products, less importance was placed on short makeready when equipping the Rapida 106. Only one to two job changes are necessary per shift with an average print run of 50000. When deciding to invest the company instead focused on high production output, a solid coater and a pull lay which does not mark the sheets. The Rapida 106 thus won points with its unique DriveTronic SIS no-sidelay infeed. This highly automated press features automatic plate changers, CleanTronic washing systems and an ErgoTronic ICR automatic register measuring system. Thanks to its enormous production output of up to 20,000sph the press was able to replace two older sheetfed offset presses. After one single-shift week and seven three-shift weeks it has clocked up an outstanding 7.25m sheets.

Managing partner Markus Kaufmann says: “I was surprised just how smoothly everything went during the press installation and that there was no need for any subsequent work”. Karl-Heinz Becker authorised officer and technical director adds, “Delivery, construction and inauguration all happened in just one and a half weeks, and we accepted the press immediately afterwards.”

If circulations hadn’t been dwindling in recent years, Markus Kaufmann would have opted for a large-format press. A B3 press is, however, satisfactory and production at his company is fully utilised. Just as circulations are falling, the number and diversity

Druckhaus Kaufmann focus on catalogues, magazines

A new, high-performance sheetfed offset press from KBA has been in operation at Druckhaus Kaufmann in Lahr, Germany, since the end of January. The KBA Rapida 106 equipped with five inking units, a coater and delivery extension prints at speeds of up to 20000 sph. However, the printing firm which was founded in 1816 does not primarily print in sheetfed offset, but will instead use the new press to supplement its web offset business with a focus on producing catalogues and magazines. Kaufmann believes in creating a high level of added value within the company. Along with high quality web printing this also includes post-press with strengths lying in adhesive binding, the production of supplementary products for catalogues and magazines as well as a raft of specialities, such as printing pattern

QuadTech’s optional high-resolution view of dot structure enables operators to quickly identify any issues, without production stoppages.

substrate corrugation. The QuadTech web stabiliser measures substrates over a certified BCRA ceramic tile, for a constant known backing, and momentarily stabilizes a small surface area of the substrate with a high pressure vacuum. This enables accurate color measurement on very thin, transparent and translucent films - ideal for self-adhesive labels, monofoil labels, wet-glue and laminates.

QuadTech introduced the technology to the Gallus's worldwide sales force during the world sales meeting and will showcase the SpectralCam systems at Gallus Innovation Days, September 23-25.

With about 1m sheets per week Markus Kaufmann and Karl-Heinz Becker from Druckhaus Kaufmann as well as Andreas Bimmler from KBA- Deutschland (l-r) are happy for a reason.

Industry Updates


Press operator Christian Tischke prints with the new Rapida 106 at top speed.

of highly specialised titles is increasing. The flexible Rapida meets these requirements perfectly. KBA made the company the best offer in terms of quality, value for money and financing. The Rapida also ranked highly with the printers and shift managers who were involved in the decision-making process, even though they had previously worked with presses from a different manufacturer.

The visual demands of the individual titles significantly increase with diversification. All titles have to stand out and entice consumers to buy, whether it be fashion, women’s and specialist magazines or catalogues for travel agencies and mail order specialists. How the coating is applied is vital for a cover to look good. Glossy, semi-matt and matt water-based coatings applied inline on the Rapida 106 have all been implemented. While the trend towards matt finishing in Germany continues, high gloss is proving particularly popular in France. Kaufmann exports approx. 20 per cent of its production to the neighbouring countries France and Switzerland.

High quality magazines and catalogues from the offset reel are the core business of this traditional company.

Druckhaus Kaufmann is the oldest industrial firm in Lahr and the only industrial printshop to have remained in the town. Following the recent investment in sheetfed offset and the further modernisation of finishing equipment, an additional web press is now on the firm’s wish list.

GMG celebrates 30GMG GmbH, the leading developer and supplier

of high-end color management software solutions, is celebrating 30 years shaping the colour management landscape – three decades “converting, standardising, reproducing, maximizing, controlling, sharing and evolving color,” in the words of co-owner Robert Weihing. It was in 1984 that Robert and brother Joerg (now fellow co-owners) joined the business founded by their father Ewald Weihing, initially to supply sign-cutting plotters. In 1989, the company expanded into inkjet, buying one of the first then-revolutionary IRIS 3047 A0-format inkjet printers, and in this purchase lay the seeds of the colour management business.

Automation right up to palletising: a high level of capacity and flexibility are essential in post-press at Kaufmann.

Industry Updates


Comprehensive range from QuadTech

At Graph Expo 14 and CPP Expo (September 28 - October 1), QuadTech will present a broad range of solutions for improving print quality, increasing profit margins and reducing waste for packaging converters, commercial and newspaper printers, at booth (3740). QuadTech's portfolio enables printers and converters to improve press performance - whether offset, flexo or gravure - achieve print consistency, and reduce

With the Color Measurement System with SpectralCam, operators can quickly determine if L*a*b* measurements are within tolerances.

“Our father had the foresight to see the potential

impact of the IRIS on the sign-making industry,” recalls Robert. “Signmaking was very labour- and materials-intensive, because you needed a separate foil for each layer, but the IRIS could print a sign in a single pass. One day, however, we printed an image from a slide and noticed that many of the browns printed as green. That was when we realised we had to learn about color management.” Four years later, the company’s first product, GMG ColorProof, a proofing and color management solution for the packaging sector, found a ready market for its automation of consistent color reproduction, especially of spot colors.

ColorProof went on to become an industry classic and, like other GMG solutions such as ColorServer and SmartProfiler, can claim to have redefined the possibilities and extended the boundaries of colour in the graphic arts. Today, the company offers a suite of 15 world-class color management products, including a number of award-winners, and has over 11000 solutions installed worldwide in a wide range of customers and for a wide variety of applications, from advertising agencies and prepress houses to offset, flexo, gravure, digital and wide-format printers.

Robert and Joerg Weihing are especially proud of GMG’s record of continuing to keep pace with (and often anticipate) changing trends in graphic arts and develop successful solutions for customers. Says Robert: “When we started, proofing was a kind of proprietary world ruled over by the likes of Cromalin and Matchprint. The IRIS began to change that. Since 2000 we’ve seen the transition from expensive, slow continuous-inkjet hardware to fast, much cheaper drop-on-demand technologies.

production costs through advanced automation and effective waste control.

QuadTech solutions featured include QuadTech Color Control and Web Inspection System with AccuCam, which is designed to meet the needs of commercial and newspaper printers. It is an image-based colour control system that provides fully automatic closed-loop colour control by adjusting the ink-key settings for consistent colour, eliminating the need for gray or colour bars. For newspaper printers, the system also has a water control capability that monitors and controls press damping levels, reducing paper waste and ink usage. The inspection capability warns press operators of many common printing faults such as scumming, creasing, transposed plates and tramlines.

The QuadTech® Color Control and Web Inspection System with AccuCam offers image-based color control along with in-line scumming detection, plate verification, and water control from the same sensor.

Industry Updates


Polish printers demonstrate faith in Rapida 75

The current situation on the Polish print market is causing more and more commercial printers to seek specialisations and new areas of business. An increasing number are turning attention to the packaging sector, even with their sheetfed offset presses in B2 format. One such company is DTL in Porąbka near Bielsko-Biała, whose half-format KBA Rapidas have contributed decisively to a shift

The QuadTech Digital Ink System provides commercial web and newspaper printers a significant quality and cost-saving improvement by providing more accurate density control at all press speeds. The system delivers ink savings along with enhanced image quality with precise accuracy. The system is a computer-controlled ink injection system that replaces traditional open fountain ink trains, and can be used to upgrade existing "pump and rail" systems.

QuadTech's Icon Platform, a single, user-friendly centralised station for all QuadTech press controls, provides instant data for makeready savings in terms of equipment setup time, labor and materials. Also, QuadTech's Waste Management System and Data Central for Inspection can use this live and stored information to optimise efficiency by pinpointing defect areas for removal and controlling quality - keeping waste out of customers' hands and cutting costs.

Printer Tomasz Wykręt (left) and production manager Wojciech Willman at the console of the Rapida 75.

in the production profile. In May, for example, DTL started up a six-colour Rapida 75 with inline coater, three-section extended delivery and equipment for hybrid production, i.e. for the alternating use of conventional and UV inks. This is already the sixth purchase of a KBA sheetfed press in the 15-year history of DTL. And thanks to the latest acquisition, the company has practically doubled its production capacity in sheetfed offset.

It was two years ago that DTL ventured its first steps into the realm of packaging printing with a five-colour Rapida 75 with a coater tower and perfecting after the second printing unit. Even though this was not a typical packaging press, its configuration permitted the economical production of short- and medium-run packaging jobs. The comprehensively equipped post-press department was another important factor: DTL is itself able to handle the complete process, including die-cutting and gluing.

Zdzisław Wawak, managing director of DTL: “The press we purchased two years ago heralded our real breakthrough onto the packaging market. At the moment, 80 per cent of our customers are still from Poland, but we are also planning to extend our services abroad.”

The new Rapida 75 is expected to accelerate this step. The press is configured with CX board-handling accessories and has been raised by 225 mm to allow for higher piles. Further significant features include an enlarged sheet format, inking unit temperature control, CleanTronic Multi washing systems for alternating ink systems (conventional/UV), a coating supply system, UV interdeck dryers and energy-saving VariDry dryers in the swan neck and extended delivery. To enable colour measurement and

The Digital Ink System replaces fountains with computerized ink injectors, providing precise density control across the printed image by metering the correct volume of ink delivered to each control zone.

Industry Updates


Smurfit Kappa thinks ‘outside the box’

Smurfit Kappa, a leading supplier of packaging solutions in Ireland, was commissioned by Irish Distillers to design and produce an eye-catching in-

Goss bags 2014 InterTech Technology Award

Goss International has again been named among the recipients of a prestigious InterTech Technology Award in 2014. “This award is particularly gratifying as it establishes Goss as a true innovator in providing a new print platform for the various packaging print sectors as well as in our more traditional sectors. It also formally acknowledges successful application in the field with user evidence that supports the value proposition,” comments Peter Walczak, Goss International director of product management for packaging presses.

The Goss Sunday Vpak series of presses was commended by judges for bringing “full litho benefits to packaging”. The panel commented that Vpak technology presents converters with “a new alternative to exploit the print quality, productivity and lower image cost of the web offset process, especially for shorter-run or segmented folding carton, flexible packaging and label jobs”.

control, it is equipped furthermore with ErgoTronic ColorDrive, ErgoTronic Lab (online) and QualiTronic ColorControl with the functions LiveView, DotView and ColorView (inline). PSO certification is scheduled for September. The result will be even more economical and ecological processes.

Zdzisław Wawak points out that the new press was purchased above all for its UV production capabilities, which permit DTL to add non-absorbent substrates to its list of product options. “In the first month, we printed exclusively UV jobs,” says Wawak. “That illustrates the high demand for such products. In many cases, production is already economical from short runs of around 100 to 150 sheets. With the new press, we aim to strengthen our presence on the packaging market by offering highly refined products on out-of-the-ordinary substrates.”

store display for its 1L Absolut Vodka. The design had to incorporate the company’s new phone and tablet app for customers to discover 500 drinks recipes featuring the product on offer. Retail shoppers today favour a visual and interactive experience when they visit a store and innovative POS not only attracts customers and enables them to interact but also persuades them to buy.

The challenge was to design and build a high-quality, illuminated construction with an integrated touch screen that was compact enough to fit into any retail store but still create an impact and attract attention. Using Smurfit Kappa’s 3D design solution, its designers created a full prototype before going into production.

The unique units were constructed using 16 mm re-board printed on an Inca Onset S40i flatbed UV inkjet printer. The six-colour printer produces superb quality display graphics economically at throughput speeds of up to 560 sqm/hr, equivalent to 112 full bed sheets/hr (3.14 x 1.6m) and onto substrates up to 50 mm (2 in) thick.

The completed units featured built-in coloured LED strip lighting to illuminate the product, with all the wires hidden in the back panels, and a touch screen tablet incorporated into the head board, fully loaded with the new product app.

Simon Kelly, Design Supervisor, Smurfit Kappa says: “This brief really inspired us to think outside of the box and design a unique and innovative display unit that met all the client’s requirements.”

The eye-cating displays, attracting customers. The magic of printing technology.

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World Printers Forum inaugural set for October

The World Printers Forum will hold its inaugural conference in October in Amsterdam at the World Publishing Expo, the largest global trade exhibition for the news publishing and media industry, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers has announced. The World Printers Forum is a new initiative that will guide WAN-IFRA’s activities in all areas of newspaper production, materials and sustainability. This will include promoting the unique value of print, encouraging the creation of innovative products, as well as developing new business models for print and operating printing plans as independent profit centres.

The two-day inaugural conference, on 15 and 16 October, will focus on innovations in print from around the world, strategies for operating printing plans as independent profit centers, savings derived from environmental improvements or “going green,” the latest developments in digital printing, and more.“There are still a lot of ideas to be discovered in

print, which continues to provide most of the revenue for newspaper companies,” says Manfred Werfel, deputy CEO of WAN-IFRA. “Though newspaper companies are focusing much of their development work on digital platforms, it’s important not to forget print, and the Forum will provide a global platform for the exchange of ideas and best practices.”

First confirmed speakers for the World Printers Forum include:- Saranga Wijeyarathne, marketing director

of Ceylon Newspapers in Sri Lanka, which drew international attention when it infused citronella in its ink and published the world’s first mosquito repellent newspaper. The newspaper determined that most of its readers read the paper in the early morning and evening, when mosquitoes and particularly prevalent. Ceylon Newspapers is noted for other innovations in print, including transforming the paper into a flag on National Day. Wijevarathne will deliver a keynote speech on The Mindset of Innovation.

- Martyn Eustace, managing director of Print

Power Europe and Newvizion Consulting, who will address the misperceptions surrounding print and how to correct them. Print Power is a European initiative to promote the continuing effectiveness of Print in a multi-media world.

- Kasturi Balaji, Director of Kasturi & Sons Ltd., the publisher of The Hindu. Balaji, who is chairman of the WAN-IFRA South Asia Committee and a noted expert on technology and production, will speak in a session devoted to a new Shaping the Future of News Publishing report on newsprint waste management that he authored.

- Rodd K Winscott, president of Newsweb Corporation’s printing division in the United States, and an advocate of digital printing. “If we are going to continue to offer our clients the most cost effective and innovative method of producing their newspapers and other media related products, we must offer the digital option,” Winscott says.- Paul Egglestone, digital coordinator of the

Media Innovation Studio at the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Central Lancashire, who will speak in a session entitled Future Print: Interactive newsprint and the Internet of Things. Interactive paper is a type of ‘smart’ paper that is responsive to a human touch, which means sheets of paper can turn into interactive displays.- Bjarne Tormodsgard, editor-in-chief of the local

newspaper Hallingdølen in Norway. Tormodsgard, who has been responsible for several redesign projects, will speak in a session devoted to visual storytelling.

- Muharrem Yasar, quality and coordination manager of the Zaman newspaper in Turkey, who will present a case study of the newspaper’s color quality control. At Zaman, quality is understood as an integrated system comprised of environmental management systems, occupational health and safety, and compliance with ISO standards. - Bénédicte Gercke, category director of Paper

& Energy at News International, and Karl Malik, Publisher of PreMedia Newsletter, who will co-chair the event.

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Strategies for digital realities showcased

The World Editors Forum is teaming up with the Online News Association for the 13th International Newsroom Summit in Amsterdam in October, which will focus on synchronising print and digital cultures to ensure growth in audience, engagement and loyalty.

“We are delighted that the ONA will be bringing some of the sharpest minds in digital journalism to Amsterdam for core sessions on the second day of the Newsroom Summit,” says Cherilyn Ireton, executive director of the Paris-based World Editors Forum.

The conference, to be held on 13 and 14 October during World Publishing Expo 2014, the largest global trade exhibition for newspapers and news publishers, will showcase strategies, case studies and insights into shifting culture and adapting to the competitive pressures.“Traditional newsrooms need to be fast and agile

to compete with digital start-ups, while at the same time need a slower, more magazine-like approach in print, to hold on to readership and revenue,” says Ireton. “We are looking forward to great discussions in Amsterdam on how best to manage these two dynamics.”

First confirmed speakers include Frank Volmer, managing director of the Telegraaf Media Groep in the Netherlands; Robyn Tomlin, chief digital officer at Pew Research Center; Alison Gow, editor, Digital Innovation, Trinity Mirror regionals; and Stijn Debrouwere, a Tow Center for Digital Journalism fellow.

Issues to be covered during the Summit include: how to prevent newsroom culture from blocking change; push content stategies to grow your audience; newsroom metrics that go beyond pageviews; ethical conundrums of the digital space; myths about mobile; how to make a story go viral; and effective digital tools.

Jagran's Q1 operating revenues up 6.81 per cent

Jagran Prakashan has reported consolidated operating revenues of Rs 440.29 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2014, a growth of 6.81 per cent from Rs 412.22 crore in the corresponding

quarter of the previous fiscal. Consolidated advertisement revenues were up 6.60 per cent at Rs 308.89 crore from Rs 289.77 crore in Q1 FY14. Circulation revenues were reported at Rs 95.66 crore in Q1 FY15, a growth of 11.92 per cent from Rs 85.48 crore. Other operating revenues for Q1 FY15 were reported at Rs 35.74 crore, as against Rs 36.97 crore. Profit before tax registered an increase of 8.28 per cent from Rs 75.54 crore in Q1 FY14 to Rs 81.79 crore in Q1 FY15. Profit after tax was reported at Rs 55.13 crore as against Rs 57.76 crore.

Commenting on the performance of the company for the quarter ended June 30, 2014, Mahendra Mohan Gupta, chairman and managing director, Jagran Prakashan, said, “The performance of the company was satisfactory. The company registered growth in revenues, operating profit, and profit before tax, but PAT was slightly lower due to lower tax and exceptional other income in the previous year. The mother brand Dainik Jagran continues to record healthy operating margin exceeding 30 per cent in spite of increased newsprint cost and overall economy not yet supporting growth in advertisement revenue.” He added, “Notwithstanding increase in newsprint prices over 12 per cent as compared to Q1 FY2014 and continued subdued ad spend, profit increased on account of improved per copy realisation of all the publication brands, reduction in losses of loss making other businesses and control over cost.”

Business India ties up with Fourth Dimension

Business India Publications has appointed Fourth Dimension Media Solutions as its sales concessionaire to strengthen its existing sales team and increase its strategic reach with clients and media houses. 4th Dimension will be a force multiplier to the existing Business India ad sales team and will represent Business India for all products of the publication and also the newly launched business India Brand Solutions Business, which will provide clients unique BTL solutions by way of Business & Entertainment Events.

The primary goal for the partnership is focused on creating and developing compelling integrated advertising and marketing solutions for brands that partner with Business India keeping in mind the

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philosophy and ethos of the client. The collaboration with Fourth Dimension will enable Business India to effectively engage with advertisers in India and amplify their presence across the country along with developing widespread and integrated relationships with leading national advertisers.


BCCL's blueprint for growthAs Bennett Coleman & Co brings the group’s

language newspapers business under the Bennett Languages banner, Ravi Dhariwal, CEO of BCCL, Shrijeet Mishra, COO, Arunabh Das Sharma, president, and Rahul Kansal, executive president, Brand Function, talk of focus areas for the Times Group, potential of the vernacular market, having a robust revenue base and keeping pace with the demanding consumer.

What is Bennett Coleman & Co’s latest initiative (unifying its regional language publications under the ‘Bennett Languages’ banner) expected to achieve for BCCL? With the Group’s strong accent on profitability, Bennett Languages is aimed at making the most of growth that is rapidly shifting to small town India, strengthening a media vertical that offers more languages than most, but is yet to conquer the market in terms of numbers.

Compared to five years ago, the percentage of SEC AB readers for the language papers has increased significantly. The languages business is a key strategic focus area for BCCL, with the five language publications contributing 30 per cent to the Group’s circulation. At the industry level, BCCL is the third largest languages group in terms of revenues today in India. Language newspaper business is somewhere between 55-60 per cent of the total market in India, while English business is the balance 40-45 per cent.


More changes at Indian Express The Indian Express has made some major changes

in its newsroom with effect from 1st August. Ritu Sarin will be executive editor (News and Investigation). Sarin leverages more than three decades of reporting experience. She will work closely with reporting teams across bureaus and centres. Vaidyanathan Iyer will move back to Delhi as National Affairs editor. Iyer,

who was resident editor in Mumbai, will take overall charge of the coverage of politics, government and business in New Delhi. Associate editor D.K. Singh, who heads the Delhi Bureau, and senior editor Anil Sasi, who will head the business bureau, will report to Iyer. Deputy editor Subhomoy Bhattacharjee will now focus fulltime on reporting and writing. Monojit Majumdar will now be national editor (Quality Control & Synergy). Deputy editor Dawa Lhamu will be in charge of the national news desk. All city desks and the nodal desk will report to her. Deputy editor Shalini Langer will be in charge of the Special Stories Cell and state correspondents.


Transfers at Amar Ujala Amar Ujala has effected some organisational

changes in its media solutions wing. Manish Rai, Media Solutions head, has been transferred from the Agra Unit to the Allahabad Unit. Manish Kumar Sharma, Media Solutions head, has been transferred from the Kanpur Unit to Ambala (HR1). B.K. Jha, Media Solutions head, has been transferred from the Jhansi Unit to the corporate office in Noida. He will be reporting to Rajiv Kental. Amritanshu Upadhyay, Media Solutions head, has been transferred from the Lucknow Unit to the Varanasi Unit. Rajnish Sahai Saxena, Media Solutions head, has been transferred from the Allahabad Unit to the Jhansi Unit. Vinay Upadhyay, Media Solutions Head, has been transferred from the Varanasi Unit to the Kanpur Unit. Saurabh Mathur, Media Solutions Head, has been transferred from Ambala (HR1) to the corporate office in Noida. He will be reporting to Anuj Tyagi. These organisational changes are applicable with effect from August 1.


EVENTS CALENDAR


September

October

2014

November

December 3-4, organised by WAN-IFRA, in Hyderabad: Reader Engagement Workshop. More details from [email protected]

December

September 9, organised by Newspaper Association of America, a webinar: Innovative Events Deriving New Revenue Growth. More details at http://www.naa.org/About-NAA/Events.aspx

September 9-11, organised by Labelexpo Gobla Series, in Illinois, the US: Labelexpo Americas 2014. More details at http://www.labelexpo-americas.com/

September 15-19, organised by WAN-IFRA, in New York/ Washington DC: Study Tour – WEF – Newsrooms and Web Video. More details from [email protected]

September 17-18, organised by WAN-IFRA, in New Delhi: WAN-IFRA India 2014 Conference. More details from [email protected]

September 18-19, organised by WAN-IFRA, in Italy: WAN-IFRA Italia 2014. More details from [email protected]

September 19-20, organised by WAN-IFRA, in Peru: Digital Media LatinoAmerica. More details from [email protected]

September 21-23, organised by Newspaper Association of America, in Chicago: NAA Retail Revenue Exchange Conference. More details at http://www.naa.org/About-NAA/Events.aspx

September 22-23, organised by WAN-IFRA, in Singapore: Engaging Audiences with Data Journalism. More details from [email protected]

September 29-30, organised by WAN-IFRA, in Kuala Lumpur: More New and Young readers (and Advertisers). More details from [email protected]

September 30 - October 2,

organised by PPMA Group of Associations, in Birmingham, the UK: PPMA Show 2014. More details from [email protected]

October 2, organised by Whitmar Publications, in London: The Digital Printer Awards 2014. More details from [email protected]

October 13-16, organised by WAN-IFRA, in Amsterdam: World Publishing Expo 2014/ 13th International Newsroom Summit/ World Printers Forum. More details from [email protected]/ [email protected]/ [email protected]

October 14-15, organised by WAN-IFRA, in Amsterdam: 7th Tablet & App Summit. More details from [email protected]

October 20-24, organised by WAN-IFRA, in New York: Study Tour – Digital Advertising – A Sales Strategy Masterclass. More details from [email protected]

October 23, organised by Whitmar Publications, in London: The 2014 FelxoTech International Print Awards. More details from [email protected]

October 28-29, organised by WAN-IFRA, in Singapore: Meeting Print-to-Web Challenge – Interactive Graphics for Newspapers. More details from [email protected]

October 30-31, organised by WAN-IFRA, in Singapore: Interactive Graphics and Data Visualisation for Magazines.

November 6, organised by Whitmar Publications: Digital Print for Brand Success Conference. More details from mailto:[email protected]

November 18-20, organised by WAN-IFRA, in Singapore: Digital Media Asia 2014 – Driving Innovation in News Media. More details from [email protected]

November 20-21, organised by WAN-IFRA, in Singapore: Direct, Social, Search – One Product, 3 Perspectives/ Master Mobile Storytelling and Multimedia Skills. More details from [email protected]

November 24-26, organised by WAN-IFRA, in Bali, Indonesia: World Young Reader Summit and Ideathon 2014 – What Must We Do in Youth Engagement and News literacy? More details from [email protected]

November 24-26, organised by WAN-IFRA, in San Francisco/ Palo Alto: Study Tour – Strictly Digital – The New Content Kings. More details from [email protected]

More details from [email protected]


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Yes, digital publishing is here to stay

Tablets might still be a niche market in India, but they are a rapidly growing and promising new media channel for newspaper publishers. Digital publishing to tablets is another step in the ongoing evolution of the media industry. This change forces publishers to define an effective multi-channel publishing strategy, enabling them to effortlessly address any channel and to monetise new channels such as tablets successfully. A special report by Stefan Horst >>> more

Dinamalar surges forward on the new media front

A 60-year-old newspaper has adapted and moved with the times, and moved quickly. Its Web site attracts more than two million unique visitors and more than 190 million page views a month; its iPhone, iPod and iPad applications have recorded a substantial number of downloads and page views, with various apps being made available on the Android platform as well. All run and managed by a small team that is highly focused on delivering value to users as well as clients, and it has paid off well. Sashi Nair reports on the Dinamalar new media success story

>>> more

Director & EditorSashi Nair

[email protected]

Assistant EditorSusan Philip

Editorial AssistantR. Suseela

[email protected]

Design & LayoutV. Anandha Kumar

ManagerN. Subramanian

[email protected]

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Laying your hands on a newspaper hot off the press (KBA press pictured here) still gets your adrenaline going. Even as the annual WAN-IFRA India Conference is all set to get underway in New Delhi, there seems to be a sense of robustness in the air. The Daily Thanthi Group in Chennai has just invested in QuadTech's Register Guidance and Ribbon Control systems with MultiCam. The Times of India has fortified its presence in the Western Uttar Pradesh region with the launch in August of four editions in Bareli, Meerut, Dehradun and Agra. The Amar Ujala Compact, a tabloid designed for those who can’t afford a broadsheet, priced at Rs 1.50, is selling almost half a million copies in India’s largest state. And India’s largest circulated daily, Dainik Jagran, continues to record healthy operating margins despite increased newsprint cost and the economy not really supporting growth in advertisement revenue. All signs of robustness, as print is learning quickly to coexist with digital. As James Lamont of the Financial Times, UK, said at last year’s conference in Bangalore, India still offers a wonderful print environment. And it’s wonderful for a journalist to be in India.

IT’S PARADISE STILL FOR NEWSPAPERS IN INDIA

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