An App Makes Remote Maintenance Far Easier

RIND AugustSurvey 2020 | Volume 41 | Issue 06 | Rs 50 www.pressinstitute.in A Journal of the Press Institute of India - Research Institute for Newspaper Development

AN APP MAKES REMOTE MAINTENANCE FAR EASIER Visual PressSupport is an app-based live video streaming service that Koenig & Bauer now offers for sheetfed presses and other business units. In addition to audio transmission, it enables live videos to be transmitted directly from a mobile device to the hotline technician during remote maintenance. The success rate of classic remote maintenance methods currently used is 80 per cent. It is expected to grow further with Visual PressSupport, a cutting-edge tool that makes communication much easier. The hotline technician sees what the press operator or service technician sees on the press. He can be shown processes and procedures live via video. Also, the technician on site and the hotline technician can apply markings to the still images generated live. These markers help to carry out function checks or settings on the correct part or to record the current status separately close-up. In this way, it can help to limit malfunctions or be used to transfer operating and setting aids. In addition, the operator or technician at the press can share images from the album on their mobile device with the hotline. These can show certain press behaviour that only occurs sporadically and therefore cannot be picked up on live. Data security is guaranteed at the same time as the hotline technician can only see the media that has been shared and no other content.

1 FROM THE EDITOR Technology’s relentless advance never ceases to amaze

he discovery of the printing technique happened in India a few years ago. AMP helps to speed up the rate Tmore than 2200 years ago – in China – when wood- at which articles load on mobile devices. Then there are block printing was used to leave impressions on cloth. The initiatives such as Innovation Challenge, Backlight (a jour- moveable type of printing (using metal type) is said to have nalistic tool) and Data Studio which are explained in Eliza- originated again in China, almost 1000 years ago. Around beth Shilpa’s article in this issue. 1450, Johannes Gutenburg introduced the first moveable type printing system in Europe and the printing press ********************* arrived – a landmark discovery. From the rotary press to Sherry Ricchiardi, a journalist and media development spe- the letterpress and offset press on to offset and gravure, cialist in her piece for Datajournalism.com titled ‘Captur- printing brought with it access to knowledge and changed ing racial justice protests with data’ mentions data being the nature of reading. But even twenty years ago, not many among the key building blocks for stories that capture the could have bargained for the kind of digital surge we see audience’s attention. Ricchiardi refers to how videos, maps today and the resultant change in the reading habit. and graphics were used to verify police violence against Read Teemu Henriksson’s article about how news pub- protesters, expose patterns of racism in American com- lishers are increasingly realising the power of personalisa- munities, and reconstruct the scene where George Floyd tion. In the latest version of its iPhone app, The New York cried “I can’t breathe” while a White police officer knelt Times has added a prominent new section, For You, which on his neck. Some of the projects have become prototypes features articles based on the user’s interests, he says. The for multi-dimensional storytelling. “Using forensic meth- Times of London and the Sunday Times are using an algo- ods of investigation, mapping tools and visualisation, jour- rithm to serve up content through personalised newslet- nalists have shed light on what may be the largest social ters, which is helping them reduce subscriber churn. More movement in American history. In some newsrooms, jour- and more publishers are experimenting with personalisa- nalists themselves are gaining the skills to do open-source tion and they are quickly learning that there is no one size investigative reporting, using visual forensic methods to that fits all. What has to be pursued with zeal is content tell the story. It clearly makes a case for visual forensic analysis and user profiling; that’s the only way content methods and other cutting-edge technology to be part of personalisation is possible. Henriksson elaborates on the the journalists’ toolkit.” Indeed, as she says, mobile phones Content Personalisation Network Project that chooses to and technology now “gives voice to the voiceless on social be as open as possible about the algorithm’s functional- issues”. ities. The project is looking for media companies to join the initiative and benefit from the CPN software for free. ********************* The Hindu Group in India has built into its databases a In a first in the world, Australia will force US tech giants machine-learning algorithm that analyses reading patterns Facebook and Google to pay Australian media outlets for of millions of users to identify the stories that resonate news content in a landmark move to protect independent with various cohorts and creates articles for subscribers journalism. According to a Reuters report, Australia will to widen their reading, Henriksson points out. Seems like become the first country to require Facebook and Google readers have never mattered so much before. to pay for news content provided by media companies Google of course has been leading the path towards new under a royalty-style system that will become law this year. initiatives focused on the reader. The Google News Initia- Might is right is supposed to be the universal principle, but tive is one such. Close to 24 per cent of the company’s in today’s media world, the old adage is facing a challenge. investments in this sphere in the Asia-Pacific Region is in India. Publishers are aware that most consumers now Sashi Nair seek news on their mobile phones. Google has been active [email protected] in the area, launching Accelerated Mobile Pages or AMP

August 2020 RIND Survey 3 RIND Survey August 2020 | Volume 41 | Issue 06

CPN: A new approach to personalising news 5 Teemu Henriksson

How The Hindu’s paywall is now paying off 8 Neha Gupta

Google uses tools, data to help publishers understand audiences 11 Elizabeth Shilpa

Adding thousands of digital subscribers during COVID-19 15 Brian Veseling

Industry Updates 18

General News 38

Cover page image: Courtesy, Koenig & Bauer C o n t e s

4 RIND Survey August 2020 BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT WITH WAN-IFRA

CPN: A new approach to personalising news

A group of broadcasters, researchers and technology providers is building a state-of-the-art news personalisation platform. After a year and a half of research and development, the Content Personalisation Network (CPN) project is looking for news publishers to test its recommender. Teemu Henriksson has the story

ews publishers are increasingly realising the This is where the Content Personalisation Network power of personalisation. For instance, in (CPN) project comes in. Funded by the European Nthe latest version of its iPhone app, The Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Pro- New York Times added a prominent new section, For gramme, CPN teams up professionals from various You, which features articles based on the user’s inter- industries. Through its Global Alliance for Media ests. Meanwhile, The Times of London and the Sun- Innovation (GAMI) network, WAN-IFRA is a CPN day Times are using an algorithm to serve up content project partner. through personalised newsletters, which is helping them reduce subscriber churn. Personalisation must be personalised Why those and many other publishers are taking Although more and more publishers are experiment- advantage of personalisation is clear. It can offer ing with personalisation, the industry hasn’t cracked deeper engagement with the audience. When readers the code yet. In fact, it’s very likely that there is no are served the kind of content they are interested in, single algorithm that fits all titles and all types of they are more likely to consume more of it and come audiences. back regularly. Also, many readers feel overwhelmed “Our tests with users have shown that not everyone by the avalanche of news today, and personalised con- likes the same thing,” says Tilman Wagner, innovation tent can act as an antidote to information overload. manager at Deutsche Welle, Germany’s international Photos: WAN-IFRA CPN project partners include broadcasters, researchers, and technology providers.

August 2020 RIND Survey 5 public broadcaster, a CPN project partner. “Some group of start-ups that are developing new services people like to pick categories before they start, others to enhance the recommender. During the course of expect the system to do all that for them, while some the project, the recommender will be put in front of people think personalisation focusing on one aspect hundreds of test users. One insight that has already alone (for example location) is enough. And for some, come out of user testing is how easily readers become you need all of the above. “It’s a bit ironic when you afraid of missing out on important articles. think of it: Personalisation must be personalised,” he “It’s really a balance. People have to feel that they are says. seeing personalised content, while at the same time feel that they also discover other important articles as Bursting the filter bubble well,” says Wagner. “It’s a very subjective feeling.” Instead of trying to create a one-size-fits-all product, Indeed, some news industry professionals worry the CPN project is building a recommender that uses that personalised content could trap their readers in ‘micro-services’, a range of interconnected function- a so-called filter bubble, meaning that the algorithm alities and operations, such as content analysis and would prevent them from seeing important content user profiling, which working together make content that doesn’t match their preferences. CPN has aimed personalisation possible. Thanks to this ‘modular’ to address the filter-bubble issue from the start of the approach, the different services can be adjusted sepa- project, by featuring a mixture of personalised and rately, which means that the CPN platform is highly selected content, for instance. flexible and can easily be adapted to the needs of dif- “The CPN recommender gives publishers control ferent types of publishers. over what content should be prioritised, thus allow- This also allows the platform to support third-party ing them to use their editorial judgement in deciding integrations, which can be ‘plugged in’ to add new fea- what articles their readers shouldn’t miss,” says Ilke- tures. The CPN consortium is already working with a Lemmelijn, an innovation project leader at VRT, a

6 RIND Survey August 2020 Belgian public-service broadcaster and CPN project partner.

Rebuilding trust in personalisation Readers, on the other hand, may be suspicious of the kinds of algorithms that power content personalisation. “Social networks, and particularly Facebook’s News Feed, have given algorithmic personalisation a bad name, since users don’t exactly know how they function,” says Wagner. CPN aims to address such concerns by being as A screenshot of the prototype CPN recommender web application interface. open as possible about the algorithm’s functionalities. For example, users can verify why the recommender like to be surprised and find things they wouldn’t have is presenting them with a specific article. “We want to expected,” says Wagner. “Everyone is trying to create bring more transparency into the equation. We believe the perfect algorithm, but no one has found it yet,” that it will help rebuild audiences’ trust in personalisa- he adds. “But since we’re a research project and have tion,” Wagner says. been able to experiment heavily, we’ve been able to How exactly does the CPN algorithm determine make significant progress on this.” what content should be displayed to which person? The recommender has gone through two rounds Instead of using a single metric such as a reader’s past of piloting with test users, with one more round to reading behaviour, the algorithm combines a variety follow in early 2020. The CPN Project is looking for

of signals, ranging from semantic content analysis to media companies to join the initiative and benefit checking what other users with similar profiles have from the CPN software for free. Read more at www.< read. In addition, the recommender tries to inject the projectcpn.eu. occasional ‘surprise’: an article that doesn’t match the reader’s interests. (This article had appeared in WAN-IFRA’s “Finding the right balance is tricky. People expect Technology Guide and Directory 2019.) personalised content, but on the other hand, they also

HT Media sees 77 per cent decline in ad revenues HT Media has reported net loss of Rs 51.95 crore in the quarter ended June 2020 as compared to Rs 142.48 crore in the quarter ended June 2019. The total revenue is down by 59 per cent YoY. The total revenue stands at Rs 239.84 crore in the quarter ended June 2020 against Rs 588.27 crore in the previous year quarter. The media company states that the decline was witnessed across businesses mainly led by volume drops. In the print business, HT Media reported 77 per cent decline in ad revenues and 37 per cent drop in circulation revenues in the quarter ended June 2020 as compared to previous year quarter. Financial

report mentioned that there was a decline in both commercial and government ad revenue streams, and the impact on newspaper distribution affected circulation revenue. It gradually got better < over May-June. (Courtesy: exchange4media.com)

August 2020 RIND Survey 7 BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT WITH WAN-IFRA

How The Hindu’s paywall is now paying off

The Hindu Group, a 141-year-old brand, was the first English-language Indian newspaper to go digital in 1995. Armed with a critical mass of online readers and a user-friendly online payment infrastructure, the company implemented a soft paywall in February 2019, and a metered one in October. Neha Gupta closely tracks the progress

ifferent product offerings require different are directional in nature, and the management aims to kinds of paywalls for maximum revenue take stock of the situation every three months, fine Doptimisation. While The Hindu Group’s tuning growth targets and strategies, driven by deep (THG) financial arm, BusinessLine, has only made business insight. certain sections paid, Crossword, e-Paper and Young World Club are all behind a hard paywall. Frontline, the Managing ad and reader revenue brand’s long form content magazine, and Sportstar, a Though advertising in all areas is taking a big hit due fortnightly sports magazine, also have a few paywalled to the COVID-19 situation, THG has made sizable stories. The company won a gold award for having ad revenue in the past and the decision to implement the best paid content strategy, at WAN-IFRA’s South a hard paywall might have resulted in a suboptimal Asian Digital Media Awards in 2019. yield. “We will keep experimenting, and depending Since THG is a subscription newbie, the current on revenue optimisation opportunities, will be open subscriber base is low. The company’s long-term goals to changing the model for each of our publications,” says Pradeep Gairola, VP and business head, The Hindu Group. Print advertising has long been the biggest revenue source for most news publishers in India, and it may be some time before reader revenue becomes the primary contributor. So how does a newsroom that has just implemented its paywall prioritise subscription without letting go of the ad business? THG nurtured its SEO audience for ad business, at the same time nudging its most loyal subscribers to pay

Photos: WAN-IFRA for access. Predictably, The Hindu’s pageviews took a Screenshot from The Hindu e-paper. hit, post paywall implementation. The flagship website

8 RIND Survey August 2020 lost about 20-25 percent of the SEO traffic but made packages that included specially created e-books with up for lost ad revenue in reader revenue. Before put- content from its 140-year-old archive. An e-book on ting up the paywall, the company studied various mar- The Hindu’s edition of August 15, 1947 (the day India kets and prepared itself for loss of SEO traffic. got independence) helped the company get a number “In international markets, where most publishers of subscriptions. are behind the paywall, search engines have changed their strategy and now do not penalise that content. Subscription offerings In India, once reputed publishers start building pay- THG’s current offering includes four subscription walls, the SEO impact will be nullified for everyone,” packages for – three months, one year and two years, says Gairola. The company foresaw only a small per- ranging from Rs 235 (€2.85) to Rs 1599 (€19.41). Due centage of its userbase turning into subscribers, and to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company has intro- hence ads remained an important source of revenue. duced a couple of short duration plans that are tac- tical in nature, which they plan to remove once the Journey from free to paid situation is under control. The Hindu website, behind the paywall, became faster Currently, the iOS and iPad applications have free after removing advertisements and third-party recom- access. Since iOS has a small user base in India, the mendation engines. Articles and landing pages gained company’s priority was putting the website behind greater cohesion and became unbroken units. The a paywall, followed by Android. The iOS app is moves empowered subscribers to have a say in the expected to be made paid in the next couple of weeks. kind of articles, topics, regions and authors they’d be Product strategy of major media houses in the West, interested in seeing more of. This level of personali- that have enforced paywalls, often centre around pro- sation surfaced relevant articles more easily, reducing viding content in formats beyond the traditional arti- the burden of navigation on the subscriber, enabling cle. For a sustainable subscription-based model, it is them to discover a much wider selection from the not enough to put hard news behind a paywall. What story archive. is it that will make people want to subscribe to The The Hindu Group also built into its databases a Hindu? machine-learning algorithm that analyses reading The challenges the company faces are both inter- patterns of millions of users to identify the stories nal and external. Its print value is still way more than that resonate with various cohorts and creates articles that what digital has to offer. “We are not yet ready to for subscribers to widen their reading. The company trade our print dollars with digital pennies,” Gairola further introduced a news round-up mechanism that said. “Print is still a very dominant revenue source curates the top 10 stories, three times each day. The and currently, our processes are more print oriented user is given the power to access all these features than digital.” The long-standing question of whether from an intuitive dashboard, giving them a sense of ownership over the content they have subscribed to. “The larger idea of building an economy with reader revenue is extremely powerful. It has a potential to change the course of the news business in our country,” says Gairola. “There are some first-mover disad- vantages for us, but we learn more from our failures. The only way out is continuous experimentation. We are building a culture wherein ‘failure’ is acceptable, and people are not afraid of it.” The company gave users a free trial period of 30 days upon registration. Rather than offers based purely on pricing, THG opted for limited-period subscription THG subscription pricing.

August 2020 RIND Survey 9 Indians are ready to pay for news or not persists. The Hindu is one of the first legacy media houses in India to enforce a paywall. “Other publishing houses will have to build alternate sources of revenue as well. In the next 2-3 years’ time, I expect most legacy news organisations to adopt the subscription model,” says Gairola. The govern- ing principle for digital businesses is “niche is mass.” Currently only a small percentage of print users are subscribed to the company’s digital properties, and the situation is expected to stay the same for a while. However, given the large base of users of The Hindu’s online products, even small percentages are COVID-19 offerings. encouraging. For instance, if the brand can convert creative common license,” says Sriram Srinivasan, even 1 per cent of its 40 million monthly unique user Strategy and Digital editor. base, it will have 400000 paying subscribers. “We “Learning from other publishers is that there is a also have to remember that this 40 million is a grow- huge correlation between the number of free articles ing number. The overall consumption of news has and subscription,” Gairola says. “However, the strat- increased dramatically, fake news is pushing readers egy is not about subscription revenue but about rev- towards the trusted sources of news, free time is a enue optimisation. Depending on how our revenue scarce commodity, and all this bodes very well for the develops, we will increase/decrease the number of subscription business,” says Gairola. free articles.” Considering the COVID-19 pandemic, The Hindu has doubled its monthly free articles to 20, from the Learning from mistakes usual 10. The brand has also published an e-book, THG ran a trial subscription offering with The Brief- The pandemic Notebook, containing essential infor- case, a mobile application that provided subscribers mation and helpline numbers, which can be freely with the five most important news stories of the day. downloaded as a PDF. The app, which was ad-free and behind a hard paywall, “This PDF will soon be available in multiple lan- was launched at a nominal price of Rs 149 (about 1.80 guages, with The Hindu Tamil translating it in Tamil euros) for a year’s subscription and ran on minimal and Confluence, a web-forum of the Indian Acad- marketing support. While the application garnered a emy of Sciences, translating it in eight other Indian decent number of subscribers, building a sustainable languages. The translations are available under the business with such a low price point was difficult and taught the company not to launch low cost offerings. “Consumers have a value chain that guides their behaviour. People subscribe due to reasons that range from emotional to rational. While launching a subscription business, brand loyalists have an emotional connect and pay for access. As time passes and the net widens, rationality catches up and that’s when the brand must give users the bang for their buck,” says

Gairola. <

(Courtesy: WAN-IFRA Blog / World News Publishing Focus. The writer is a multimedia journalist with WAN-IFRA South Asia.) Temporary subscription offering during the COVID-19 pandemic.

10 RIND Survey August 2020 BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT WITH WAN-IFRA

Google uses tools, data to help publishers understand audiences

At the recent Digital Media India conference, Rohan Tiwary of Google Asia Pacific, offered updates on some of the company’s ongoing efforts through their Google News Initiative, including training journalists and AMP, and also highlighted some of their data and subscription developments to help news publishers drive revenues. Elizabeth Shilpa reports

ccording to Google research, about 92 per- Tiwary, Google Asia Pacific. “It’s important to rethink cent of Internet users in India access news business in those parameters.” Aat least once daily, which is among the high- Google has been a frontrunner in this aspect. Close est rates in the world. This offers industry stakehold- to 24 per cent of the company’s investments into the ers, including Google, a vast market and tremendous Google News Initiative in the APAC Region is in India. opportunities. “News still has extensive reach, but it’s Furthermore, nearly all of this news consumption is important to break down what are the authoritative being done through mobile phones. A 2019 study sources that are being sought by users,” says Rohan by Kantar suggests that 97 per cent of consumers seek news through their phones, a clear indication of where publishers should have their focus. Google has been actively developing services based on this trend, such as its Accelerated Mobile Pages or AMP, which they launched in India in October 2016. AMP helps to speed up the rate that articles load on mobile devices, and publishers have been quick to embrace it, Tiwary says. He adds that adopters of AMP have seen 6x growth in traffic and 2x growth in CPM.

AMP stories, a mobile-focussed format

Photos: WAN-IFRA “We have also recently launched AMP stories, and here Rohan Tiwary, Head of Media, News & Entertainment Partnerships, the expectation is that this is going to see 3x the CPM Google Asia Pacific, Singapore, at Digital Media India 2020 last for banner ads,” Tiwary says. AMP stories, which month in New Delhi. launched in August 2019, offers publishers an oppor-

August 2020 RIND Survey 11 GNI, and through it, Google has been working with 350 news organisations across 70 countries. GNI was introduced in India in June 2018 as Google News Initiative Training Network to support journalists in their fight against misinformation. In December 2018, Google selected 10 Indian media companies for fund- ing under the initiative. “Two years back we started the GNI India training network, which was in partnership with Boomlive, Internews and Dataleads where the intention was to look at how we could train and provide support for the fight against misinformation. As of today, we have trained about 26000 journalists,” siad Tiwary. “This is an activity that has been going on and there’s a lot of Source: Kantar, Comscore. scope out here for us to do,” he continues, adding that India was the first country where Google introduced tunity to provide users with an immersive experience. fact-checking on YouTube. AMP stories can offer “a mobile-focused format for In January, along with the news literacy organisation delivering news and information as visually rich, tap- Internews, Google announced an investment grand through stories,” according to its website. of $1 million to promote news literacy in India, where “I think this would have a profound impact on your the focus is on developing programmes that train (publishers’) business, mostly in terms of the vertical internet users to spot authentic news from the ocean layout that the AMP stories present,” Tiwary said. In of online misinformation. “This is going to be across addition, he said that Google has been carrying out seven languages aimed at non-metro cities,” Tiwary pilots of flexible pricing and “Subscribe with Google” says. in the region. Aiming to drive revenue to publishers GNI: Training journalists, fighting The ever-changing news consumption patterns have misinformation been adding to the amount of complexity in mon- The Google News Initiative (GNI) launched in etisation models, however Tiwary likes to believe his March 2018 brought several programmes under one team has been providing value to publishers by build- umbrella. The company dedicated $300 million to ing audience and driving traffic to their websites. “Google has been driving 24 billion views or times that users come every month to authoritative news sites providing the opportunity to build your models on top of this traffic. A lot of partners work on the ‘ad-manager’ platform where there are a lot of options where you could leverage that technology to capital- ise on the monetisation aspects,” says Tiwary. In 2018, Google shared about $14 billion with the publisher ecosystem.

‘Subscribe with Google’ “We have products like Subscribe with Google where we work with 83 partners across 19 countries. You will see a lot of focus and push by Google across GNI India election coverage.

12 RIND Survey August 2020 “There is a tool called Flourish, which is widely used by journalists in creating maps. This was very useful when we were looking at election coverage or data visualisation,” Tiwary says, pointing out that the tool has been helping many news organisations in India, including The Quint, Business Today, Indian Express, Deccan Herald and News18 to add value to their Google for publishers. efforts in the newsroom. Audio has been another focus area of Google. It has India also in this area. This is where we bring in the been investing GNI funds amounting to $5 million technology expertise and help that create a smooth into audio news partnerships. Tiwary notes that the funnel where we could hopefully provide insights in near future will see a lot of development around pod- helping you drive revenue through advertising and casts and audio partnerships. converting users who could be potential subscribers,” Tiwary says. Data Studio: Driving insights with data “The other aspect is around new users. We are trying “We are also looking at strong data insights, be it in to make both content and experiences more locally terms of news content insights or be it in terms of relevant. For the advertisers, this gives an opportu- the reader consumer insights that really help. These nity to reach a new population that is coming online, efforts – largely the Data Studio efforts – marry the which could be the Indic population. For the users, effort that you put in after looking at your first party this helps them to see ads that are more relevant to data,” Tiwary says. Data Studio was introduced by them,” Tiwary points out. Google for those who wanted to go beyond Google Analytics. Tiwary notes that in India it is being lever- Technology and innovation aged by media houses like Jagran. On the technology front, Google has been run- “When you look at things like programmatic adver- ning programmes such as Innovation Challenge tisements or avenues to increase your advertising or or under both GNI Design Accelerator and YouTube. even subscription, how do we help you create cohorts It recently concluded the second round of Innova- of what kinds of audiences are you targeting; once tion Challenge, which received 224 applications from APAC. “These are programmes where Google looks at ideas across both legacy print business and digital natives as to what are some of the innovations we could help you with taking it to the next phase of testing,” Tiwary says. “A new journalistic tool called Backlight, which is in alpha testing and not yet launched in India, helps journalists make sense of heaps of data. The test we ran in the US was on the Kennedy assassination where 75000 pieces of documentation were fed into this tool and the results were quite interesting. These are the kind of tools we plan to launch in the market,” Tiwary explains. Tiwary notes that the company has also been lever- aging its technological prowess in machine learning, artificial intelligence and automation to develop tools that would help the publishers. Insights Card.

August 2020 RIND Survey 13 you have that kind of audience how do you re-target What we are looking at is if you could use cohorts to – these are the kind of things we try to do,” he says. understand the areas they would move to. We have Apart from Data Studio, Google has also introduced experimented with a lot of models – be it ads or other initiatives, such as the Insights Engine Project subscription. We are also looking at a lot of pricing and features such as bigQuery. options. By mid-2020 you would see a lot more inno-

“We are looking at providing subscription support vations and products from us on the data front.” < for publishers. So could we use these tools and data to help news organisations understand their audience (Courtesy: WAN-IFRA Blog / World News and get insights on which users are more amenable Publishing Focus. The writer is a business analyst with to move towards a subscription point of view,”says WAN-IFRA South Asia.) Tiwary. “We are very mindful of the privacy part.

New MIB guidelines in place for print ad eligibility The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) Bureau of Outreach and Communication (BOC) has come up with a print media advertisement policy that will be effective from August 1. The guidelines state that all ministries or departments of the Government of India, public sector undertakings, autonomous bodies and societies, central universities, educational institutions of Government of India shall route their display advertisements, through BOC. However, they may issue classified advertisements (tender notices, auction notices, recruitment advertisements, etc) directly to the BOC empanelled publications at BOC rates and may publish their recruitment advertisements directly in the Employment News at BOC rates. It further states that there shall be a Panel Advisory Committee (PAC) for considering applications of publications for empanelment for receiving government advertisements. The guidelines state certain eligibility criteria for a publication. Some of them being: The publication must have been uninterruptedly and regularly under publication for a period of not less than 36 months. House periodicals, souvenirs, annual periodicals, bi-monthlies, quarterlies and second edition of any periodical will not be empanelled. The compulsory uninterrupted and regular publication period of 36 months may be relaxed to 6 months for some categories. The publication also needs to maintain a reasonable standard. Fresh applications for empanelment may be made twice a year, once during February and during August. These applications will be considered by the Panel Advisory Committee (PAC), the meetings of which shall be held twice a year. The rate structure for advertisements against advertisements released by BOC will be worked out as per recommendations of the rate structure committee. The rates will be related to certified circulation of a publication. The rates for advertisements by Maharatna and Navratna Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) will be 1.5 times the normal BOC rates. The rates will be valid for 3 years from the date of revision. The guidelines also state: In order to incentivise newspapers which get their circulation verified by ABC/ RNI and those who have better professional standing and to bring transparency and accountability

in the release of advertisements, BOC shall follow a marking system based on objective criteria and release advertisements to the medium and big category newspapers on the basis of marks obtained< by each newspaper. (Courtesy: exchange4media.com)

14 RIND Survey August 2020 BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT WITH WAN-IFRA

Adding thousands of digital subscribers during COVID-19 Leading Swedish daily news publisher Dagens Nyheter has seen sharp increases in registered users and digital subscribers since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. During a recent WAN-IFRA webinar, Martin Jönsson, head of editorial development at DN, told more than 250 registered participants from around the world that the welcome development was largely due to two key factors. Brian Veseling, who tuned in, explains

irst, Dagens Nyheter (DN) doesn’t have a sin- Before the crisis began, DN already had more digital gle paywall strategy – “We have several,” Martin subscribers than print ones (56:44 per cent), and this FJönsson, head of editorial development at DN, had been developing for some time. “The number of said. Second, the Bonnier-owned publisher has spent digital-only subscribers had increased over three years the past five years transforming itself from its tradi- by 182 percent,” Jönsson said. “We had been having tional, print-dominant culture to a digital-first news a great year,” he said. “We went into 2020 stronger organisation that relies much more on reader revenue than ever.” (70 per cent) than on ad revenue. “Being a digital-first Pre-Corona, DN had 1.1 million daily readers, but organisation has helped us a lot,” Jönsson noted. Jönsson said now, “it’s much higher than that: it’s up Photo: WAN-IFRA Dagens Nyheter has transformed itself from a print-dominant culture to a digital-first news organisation.

August 2020 RIND Survey 15 to between 1.6 and 1.7 million (Sweden’s population is so far in our digital transformation process because if approximately 10.3 million). Also pre-Corona we had this had happened five years ago, it would have been 330000 paid subscribers.” Today, he noted, they have very, very hard for us.” 460000 subscribers, which is an all-time high for them (150000 of these are print subscribers, and the total Now, about those paywall strategies... figure also includes registered users). As mentioned above, DN uses a variety of paywall strategies. For example, they have a metered model, Record readership growth but they also have a premium model and one Jöns- Thanks to a recent campaign to open up the DN site son called a dynamic dashboard model, “where we until early May to users who register, Jönsson said see what kind of content works, keep it open (freely they have added 115000 new registered readers. “This available) for three or four hours, and if we have a lot is a record number for us,” he said. “In the previous of high external traffic and direct traffic, we’ll put the times when we have tried this, such as with the gen- content behind a paywall. It’s very flexible.” eral Swedish election, we’ve had 40-45000, so this is DN has further refined these strategies during enormous.” the past few years. “When we first started on digital Most interestingly, Jönsson said, is that DN has also subscriptions, everything was focussed on acquisi- managed to bring in record numbers of new digital tion,” he said. “Then, we realised that we had growing subscribers – more than 8,000 a week during some problems with churn, so we focussed on anti-churn. weeks. “We’ve seen 350 percent growth compared to And the past two years, we’ve been focussed much the previous best weeks we’ve had this year. So we more on the cost-of-the-reader revenue business: The have growth on both levels – on registration, and on acquisition, and how we can keep and improve the traditional paying subscribers.” lifetime value, the net value of each subscriber to find the right offer, the right package, the right pricing in New ways of working, some setbacks order to get people to stay on for a long time.” However, like publishers throughout the world, DN Likewise, DN has tweaked its paywall strategies in has undergone some drastic changes since the out- regards to COVID-19 content, and was among the break began. For example, Jönsson said about 90 earliest paywalled publishers to make that content per cent of employees are now working from home, free. As time has passed, the general health-related and have done so for the past month. This includes content has remained free, but other related COVID- the editor-in-chief and most of the people in top 19 content, such as longer reads and opinion pieces, management. have gone behind the paywall. “We have a lot of [online] meetings on a daily basis,” Overall, DN’s paywall strategies have developed in he said. “We’ve also done some temporary layoffs (20 parallel with investments in their content during the per cent) due to a quick and drastic fall in ad revenue past several years to ensure they are producing high- (25 per cent).” While the growth in web traffic (an quality content that will keep readers engaged and increase of 125 percent) compensates a little, it is not encourage them to return regularly, Jönsson said. enough, he added. “The growth in subscribers is fan- “Our most important KPI is always the total amount tastic, but that will also be delayed revenue,” he said. of time spent on a story. Anything you can do to get “So, right now we have to cut costs to get a balance.” people to create new daily habits, such as listen to a As part of this, DN has instituted shorter working new daily podcast, or opening a daily newsletter for hours, for at least some staff, Jönsson said, adding, instance, is very, very important to creating the kind “It’s very hard, because we have some people who have of daily habits that you want to keep them around for the disease. We have people who are affected by close a long time.” relatives who have it, so it’s affecting us, as it’s affecting “To aim for digital loyalty we have to work very the entire society. It’s also difficult when everyone’s much on digital quality, and right now, to show as working from home, but I am happy that we’ve come many readers as possible in Sweden that we are the

16 RIND Survey August 2020 best source of coverage of Corona,” Jönsson added. details, just register so that we could get your contact DN is trying to ensure that these readers also spend information.” time with their other content to develop habits and a During a question-and-answer session at the end of relationship that will encourage subscription growth the webinar, Jönsson said that their most important over the long term. learnings so far from the crisis is that the staff overall For example, as mentioned above, in mid-March “has taken a giant step forward to being a truly digital DN decided to open up its entire website until early organisation. … And the other learning is to be open May, requiring only that a new reader registers with to change. We’re trying to be very dynamic and try their email address. People who have previously sub- numerous different things, and trying to be creative in

scribed to DN are asked for additional details. “This the process so that in the long term, we will be able has been the key to our entire strategy: to say that it’s to say that we have learned from this, even if we don’t < not just the open corona coverage, that if you like the see revenue in the short term.” corona coverage that we have, you might also like the entire website,” Jönsson said. “So, we offered a regis- (Courtesy: WAN-IFRA Blog / World News tration wall, so you could get access for about six or Publishing Focus. The writer is WAN-IFRA’s senior seven weeks, until early May, if you just sent us your editor based in Frankfurt.) email address and so on. No payments, no credit card

Return of advertisers brings cheer to print After a torrid two months, print is seeing a slow but steady growth in toplines, with advertisers returning to their traditional favourite. COVID has redefined the role of print in the media mix. Cashing in on their credibility factor most print brands are welcoming back their ad clientele especially in

the last one month. Of all the advertisers coming back to print, 75 per cent are in Hindi and English Language, shows the latest Tam AdEx data. Interestingly, for some major players the demand is more< from non-metro cities. (Courtesy: exchange4media.com)

MRUC suspends IRS 2020: Reports Audience research body Media Research Users Council (MRUC) has suspended the production and publication of its IRS 2020 Readership Survey due, according to media reports. The councilhas reportedly informed its subscribers that it will refund their payments made for the survey. MRUC is said to have taken payments for the survey in October-November. Reports suggest that the

development is an impact of the COVID-19 pandmic, as it is not possible to carry out the fieldwork needed for the research. MRUC had reportedly issued a propoal to appoint a new ageny for the < research as its contract with Nilsen has ended. (Courtesy: exchange4media.com)

August 2020 RIND Survey 17 Industry updates

we can expect and we know the people we are work- Jysk Fynske Medier ing with.” upgrades with mRC-3D To sign, deliver, install and complete an order in troubled and uncertain times because of the COVID- It requires vision, drive and flexibility, especially in 19 virus is quite remarkable. Taking all safety mea- these times, to continue to improve business opera- sures into account and by making good and mutual tions. Jysk Fynske Medier, located in Struer Denmark, understandings, the entire process has proceeded did just that by upgrading with QI Press Controls’ excellently. “We want to complement QIPC for yet (QIPC) mRC-3D for register and cut-off control on another good progress during the installation, which their KBA Comet newspaper press. has gone as planned. Their Service Engineer, Tiemen The 20 new mRC-3D cameras will be mounted on van Eerde has done a great job, working late hours a KBA Comet press consisting of six printing units and solving challenges and adapted when necessary.” and two folders. The mRC-3D cameras will replace Morten Hansen concludes: “We are looking forward their predecessor, QIPC’s IRS system, which has to the years to come, expecting the same high service functioned flawlessly for 18 years. Says Morten Han- level and the same close relationship as we have been sen, technical manager of Jysk Fynske Medier: “We used to.” have had the IRS colour register and cut-off regis- Erwin van Rossem, director of Global Sales & Mar- ter since 2002 and in the past eighteen years I have keting QIPC adds; “Jysk Fynske Medier in Struer is always said that this was the best investment we have one of our first customers in Denmark and of course made after installing the KBA Comet in 2000. We being awarded again with this project is a nice expres- have always been very satisfied with the service that sion of their satisfaction. Worth of highlighting is the QIPC provides. After eighteen years we know what fact that we are here upgrading an 18 years old system which confirms and proves the Q in our name that stands for Quality.” Beta testing for VariJet 106 on Koenig & Bauer Durst GmbH has announced plans to bring the VariJet 106 to market with the first installation of the single-pass digital printing press at a customer site early next year prior to a formal unveiling at the rearranged drupa in Dus- seldorf, Germany, from April 20-28. Targeting the folding Robert Stabler, Managing carton industry, the much-antic- Director, Durst and ipated B1 6000sph VariJet 106 is Koenig & Bauer.

Materials in this section: Provided by respective company /PR agency at the heart of the collaborative Morten Hansen, technical manager, Jysk Fynske Medier (left) and development between Koenig & Bauer and Durst. It QIPC’s service engineer, Tiemen van Eerde, both satisfied with the integrates inkjet technology into the platform of the process of installation and commissioning. high-performance Rapida 106 offset press.

18 RIND Survey August 2020 Industry Updates

colours being introduced for the fifth and sixth colour stations will enable converters to meet brand colour requirements. The Delta SPC 130 FlexLine Automatic combines a well-engineered mechanical design with easily accessible sub-assemblies and selected components to guarantee durable quality, high performance and reliability. It can manage small formats from 500 x 600mm through to very large formats with maximum dimensions of 1300 x 2100 (optionally 1300 x 2800 mm) and print a maximum thickness of 12 mm with water-based, food safe inks. The Delta SPC130 Flex- The VariJet 106. Line machine includes feeder, six-colour single-pass printing, cooling section and stacker. The VariJet 106 combines the strengths of digital ink- For the CorruJet 170, successful beta testing has jet with those of classic offset printing and inline finish- been completed at the Kolb Group in Bavaria, Ger- ing. It is this unique flexibility which defines the VariJet many, a company that develops and produces packag- 106 as a productive and cost-efficient hybrid printing ing, packaging materials and specialist products made system for digital packaging printing. The VariJet 106 in corrugated cardboard. Based on Koenig & Bauer’s can produce personalised and individualised print prod- RotaJET inkjet web press for packaging and decor ucts or alternate between short and medium runs. printing, The CorruJet 170 post-prints sheets of cor- The VariJet 106 offers: rugated up to 1.7m wide at up to 137m/min on water based, food safe inks. • Modular integration of upstream and downstream All three presses meet the stringent requirements processes for food safe primary packaging utilising proprietary • Combination of digital print with proven modules water-based ink technology. The VariJet 106, Delta of the Rapida platform SPC 130 and CorruJet 170 are designed with core • Perfect register accuracy thanks to inline technologies to provide automated, productive, food production safe printing systems. They deliver shorter response • Highly competitive TCO, efficient production of times, more variants, shorter run lengths, individual- ultra-short to medium runs ization and enable more and more small value orders. • Reduced resource consumption, storage costs They also answer the increasing customer demand for and waste brand security, sustainability and the ability to meet • Absolute flexibility for test packaging and new brand owners’ requirements for multichannel com- campaigns munication including e-commerce. • Fastest possible response to market demands Robert Stabler, managing director, Koenig & Bauer The announcements from the joint venture company, Durst, says: “We’re really excited by the opportunities which was set up by Durst and Koenig & Bauer in and progress with our much-anticipated VariJET 106. 2019, have also included updates on its single-pass We have a number of existing customers that would corrugated presses – the Delta SPC 130 and the Cor- like to be beta sites, and we plan to show them the ruJet 170 – which have a specific focus on delivering press after the summer. The customer we choose will for the stringent requirements of the packaging sector. have a vision for mass customisation and be a good A digital priming unit for uncoated media will partner for a beta site. Feedback from our customers broaden the applications customers can address is that shorter run lengths, mass customisation and on the Delta SPC 130, as well as extend the range the need to be more agile are the compelling reasons of media that can be used for printing. And special for moving to digital production.

August 2020 RIND Survey 19 Industry Updates

“Successful companies need to be able to embrace the trends that are occurring and offer solutions. Brand owners continually want their products to stand out, require shorter lead times, while at the same time eliminate waste and conform to sustainability and track-and-trace requirements. Brand owners are also looking to ensure the new production methods are reliable, compliant and cost effective while converters need to have the capabilities and competencies to mass customize without any compromise on quality. We deliver on this.”

The five-colour Rapida 76 with coater and extended delivery is highly valued Schmidt & Buchta delighted at Schmidt & Buchta for its outstanding performance potential. with its Rapida 76 printing an average of two to three additional jobs Matthias Herrmann, managing director of the Schmidt every day. & Buchta Printing Company based in the small town Jobs which previously required printing time of of Helmbrechts in northern Bavaria, paid a visit to between 36 and 42 hours are now completed, along Koenig & Bauer Grafitec in July last year to learn more with all the requisite plate changes and make-ready about the Czech factory in which his Rapida 76 was processes, within 21 to 24 hours. The consistently manufactured. This highly automated five-colour press high production speed represents another contribut- with coater and extended delivery has now been used ing factor. While a print job used to last for 1.5 shifts, for routine production for more than six months. Schmidt & Buchta has now been able to condense its Schmidt & Buchta has seen any number of changes operations to one single shift only. Even so, monthly since the arrival of its Rapida 76. Investment in a output has increased by around 500000 sheets – new hall has tripled the available production floor despite the fact the predecessor press was also from space from 500 to 1500m2. And the Rapida 76 has far the 16000sph generation. exceeded Matthias Herrmann’s original expectations: “On the old press,” Herrmann recalls, “we some- “I never imagined that the press would have such an times had to drive with the handbrake on, so to speak, impact. It has immense potential.” Make-ready times in order to keep the quality up to the required level.” have been reduced tangibly, and the company is now This is now a thing of the past. The Rapida 76 reliably delivers consistent results, irrespective of production speed or substrate. QualiTronic PDF, in particular, can take the credit for this. The system comprises not only inline colour control and sheet inspection with continuous production monitoring, but also a comparison of the printed sheets with the pre-press PDF. This functionality allows the company to promise a consistently high quality, as required by pharmaceuticals companies, for example. Matthias Herrmann is still as fascinated by the automatic regulation of colour densities shown on the console monitor as the press starts up as he was on the very first day. He has calculated that the automatic New press technology and a new production hall. At Schmidt & Buchta, all control has enabled waste to be reduced by up to 50 the signs are pointing to growth. per cent. The benefits are particularly apparent when

20 RIND Survey August 2020 Industry Updates restarting the press following stoppages or when run- minutes. In the past, a change usually took around ten ning work-and-turn jobs. minutes longer. Furthermore, changing the coating The print quality on uncoated papers is likewise type necessitated manual washing of the unit, which much better than anything the previous press pro- took a further 15 minutes. duced – even without an LED-UV process. “We were The effective cleaning time for the Rapida 76 is already getting very good results beforehand, but the negligible, as it is conducted at the same time as other Rapida has elevated us to an even higher quality,” says make-ready processes in automatic mode. Where Matthias Herrmann. Dot sharpness on the Rapida 76 the work requires frequent coating changes, the time is simply superior. savings are, of course, considerable. Nor is anyone The sidelay-free infeed is another feature that Mat- prepared to forego parallel washing processes in the thias Herrmann considers ingenious. Printing on thin printing units any more. Matthias Herrmann: “We and sensitive substrates is much more straightforward, had no idea that so many tasks could actually run as DriveTronic SIS does not subject the sheets to simultaneously.” mechanical stress during alignment. This dispels any The printers at Schmidt & Buchta were working concerns about buckling or marking by the side lay. alone on the new Rapida 76 after just two weeks of In addition, there is no need for manual adjustments familiarisation training. It is now making a significant when changing substrates. Even a switch from 80 to contribution to the continued growth of the 13-man 300g/m2 is an amazingly straightforward process. company. Matthias Herrmann considers the press to The coater is another feature which has made a be on an absolute par with its 3b counterparts, the similarly good impression on everyone at Schmidt & only difference being that it prints in a smaller format. Buchta. Coating plates are changed in two to three Even if Schmidt & Buchta were also affected by the usual order volume failing to materialise in March and April due to COVID-19, Matthias Herrmann is nev- ertheless optimistic about the future. By combining commercial work for the regional economy, the cul- tural sector, food and pharmaceuticals companies and furniture manufacturers, not to mention its unique specialisation in so-called “sample hangers” for the textile industry, he is well equipped to cope with any shifts in market demands. In fact, turnover at Schmidt & Buchta actually increased by two to three per cent in the first three months of 2020, despite the lockdown and all the negative consequences it had for the advertising industry. Rapida 106 X – the new performance benchmark With the Rapida 106 X, Koenig & Bauer is unveiling a new high-performance sheetfed offset press for the medium format 740 × 1060mm. It meets every conceivable demand that today’s market makes of a press in terms of automation, digitisation and workflow solutions, thereby making it the latest in a line Fully automatic FAPC plate changers make a significant contribution to of trendsetting developments defining the future of faster make-ready times. industrial offset.

August 2020 RIND Survey 21 Industry Updates

Superior, dynamic and of lasting value – these are properties that the Rapida 106 X embodies with its new award-winning design. Glass side panels, a new touchscreen operating concept and an expressive design language immediately identify the press as an ultra-modern automated printing system. What becomes evident with just a glance is that this is the most powerful Rapida that the market has ever seen. The new Rapida 106 X series aims to lend performance a further boost in order to make companies even more profitable. There are five criteria that play an especially decisive role in this: To avoid wasting even a second during make-ready, New: PlateTronic plate logistics right up to the loading channels on the press. the Rapida 106 X incorporates a host of pioneering From the platesetter to intermediate plate storage and even the plate changer, and precisely coordinated features. These range from all processes run fully automatically. simultaneous plate changing in less than a minute with unbent and process-free plates to a multitude mode. This process is then repeated as often as is nec- of parallel make-ready processes, and also includes essary to complete the whole sequence of jobs. autonomous printing of a whole sequence of jobs A similarly high level of automation characterises with automatic activation of the good-sheet counter the new PlateTronic plate logistics system. It can be (AutoRun). At this level of automation, the Rapida incorporated into the new Rapida 106 X upon request. 106 X is truly a perfect automatic printing system. It has been designed as a modular system and exhibits As soon as the sheet counter reaches the speci- the versatility to adapt to the requirements of each fied run length for the current job, the impression is individual print company. thrown off and the Rapida 106 X automatically begins From job preparation in the PPS system LogoTro- the job changeover. Once make-ready is completed, nic Professional to plate exposure and delivery up printing resumes for the next job without any inter- to the designated printing units on the press, as well vention by the operator. The measuring and control as the removal of the old plates, the process is com- systems detect when the specified print quality has pleted without any manual intervention whatsoever. been attained and re-activate the sheet counter. After Assignment of the plates to the individual printing printing the required number of sheets for the sec- units is managed by the logistics system, meaning that ond job, the press switches back into job changeover the order in which the plates actually reach the press can be varied as required. The Koenig & Bauer logistics system guides the plates directly into the plate changers. The operator’s work consists solely of process monitoring. At commercial printing companies with short runs and frequent language or section changes in particular, the plate logistics system offers key benefits in terms of productivity. Imagine printing a job with a run length of around 350 sheets requiring removal of the old plates from eight or more changers, and loading of the same number of new plates ready for subsequent mounting, all while the job is proceed- ing – an operator could only keep pace with the press Typical commercial press: Rapida 106 X as an eight-colour press with for a short time. The technology provides a distinct perfecting unit for 4-over-4 production and an additional coater. advantage in this case, and helps to ensure that the

22 RIND Survey August 2020 Industry Updates

Rapida 106 X is always back in production as quickly as possible. As a world first, the Rapida 106 X reaches production speeds of up to 20000 sheets per hour in perfecting mode. It thereby opens the door to entirely new levels of performance for perfector presses. Commer- cial printers that use eight-colour presses for 4-over-4 production will be delighted, as they now have access to the same high-performance technology as companies working with straight presses only. Optimising job sequences offers additional potential for raising the daily output of sheetfed offset presses. With this in mind, Koenig & Bauer is launching a brand new tool together with the Rapida 106 X: the Coating plate changes are similarly automated on the Rapida 106 X and Job Optimiser. This tool acts as a link between MIS can be completed without the need for tools in under two minutes thanks to and PPS, and optimises the order of the jobs preset in SAPC. the MIS scheduling module in accordance with tech- is possible to compare the current production perfor- nological or press-related considerations. The former mance and makeready times with reference settings at include aspects such as the sheet format, substrate just a glance. At the same time, production data can weight, type of coating and quality levels of complex be used in costing analyses to enable comparisons formes. Examples for the latter are the option of with the planned values. Profits and losses are quanti- implementing parallel processes, or formes that are fied in real time. suitable for use of the print-clean function rather than When it comes to measuring systems, too, Koenig & resorting to more time-consuming washing processes. Bauer has set the benchmark. A single camera system An optimised job sequence can shorten makeready (with two cameras on perfector presses) covers three times by a further 30 to 50 per cent, depending on the functions: inline colour control, sheet inspection with parameters of the specific job. continuous production monitoring, and comparison Information on compliance with OEE criteria, used of the printed sheets with the pre-press PDF. for overall equipment efficiency, is provided by the QualiTronic ColorControl measures the ink densi- new LogoTronic Cockpit. Just-in-time analyses are ties in colour bars on every single sheet. The system performed on all production data and times, and the uses the measured values to calculate corrections to results are presented in clearly structured diagrams. It the ink settings every ten sheets. In conjunction with the fast reaction by inking unit of the Rapida 106 X, jobs are brought into colour in next to no time – the number of waste sheets at start-up and after production stoppages decreases tangibly: just 25 to 50 sheets, depending on the job and quality parameters. QualiTronic PrintCheck upgrades inline colour control by adding a production monitoring function. When printing starts, the system scans a set number of good sheets to generate a reference. All printed sheets are subsequently compared with this reference. Any deviations that are detected are displayed on the monitor and can also be marked in the pile by using DriveTronic dedicated drive technology (here in the form of the sidelay-free an optional tag inserter. All these processes require no infeed DriveTronic SIS) offers unique functionalities. makeready and run fully autonomously.

August 2020 RIND Survey 23 Industry Updates

A comparison of the printed sheet with a customer by eliminating language barriers. Visual PressSupport PDF is performed using QualiTronic PDFCheck. This increases the scope of services that can be provided system allows flaws to be detected before the actual by remote maintenance by enabling direct insight into production run even commences – a major bonus, the press using the operator’s smartphone. Photos, especially for Internet or packaging printers. The videos, audio and a comment function help provide a PDF comparison is performed for every single sheet much clearer description of the situation that results during production, at a scan resolution of 100dpi. If in a remote maintenance call, and also make it easier the system spots any differences between print and to provide assistance in relation to process technolo- PDF, the operator is alerted and is prompted to inter- gies or mechanical press components. vene. A report is created to document the print quality. A monthly performance report shows performance QualiTronic PDF HighRes conducts sheet inspec- data and key performance indicators of presses in an tion with even greater precision. The content of each easy-to-understand graphic form. In addition, perfor- printed sheet is checked at a resolution of 290dpi. mance data can be compared internally and externally Even the tiniest flaws and deviations as minute as with those from presses used in a similar manner – approx. 90µm can be detected, visualised and logged. anonymously, of course. To this end, two additional cameras are installed on Thanks to artificial intelligence and by making use the Rapida 106 X. of sensor data from the presses, a steady stream of Once the colour is within the specified tolerances, features has been, and continues to be, developed to the Traffic Light function provides information about ensure the Rapida 106 X operates with ultimate pro- the overall quality of the production. Three different ductivity, to increase its production availability and to quality levels can be defined. If a green light is dis- promote a detailed exchange of information between played, the quality meets the specifications and the users and the manufacturer using digital channels. good-sheet counter is activated automatically. Traffic What we call our Customer Community is the cen- Light allows waste to be reduced while printing in a tral point of contact. This is where new tickets can defined, comparable quality and maintaining effective be created, open tickets and performance reports can control over the whole length of a run. be viewed, and a range of other digital services can Koenig & Bauer is offering a pair of smart tools be accessed. Users and the manufacturer can access for the print process in the form of the Rapida Live- an identical information database, meaning that they Apps. ErgoTronicApp allows the entire press to be are all on the same page when working together. In visualised on a mobile device. Printers can view all job future, the Customer Community will unite all digital data for the current and next job, production times, services under one and the same roof. notifications and maintenance instructions, including Sensor data from the press are becoming increas- support, to enable them to carry out the work. This ingly important as a means of localising faults before makes the press console mobile. The ProductionApp they result in actual press downtime. Using methods can be used to manage store inventories, track con- incorporating artificial intelligence, it is possible to sumables batches and much more. The app provides analyse sensor responses to distinguish between nor- an accurate overview of which print jobs were pro- mal and abnormal press behaviour. As soon as abnor- duced with which batches of substrates, inks and con- malities are detected, bots intervene in operations and sumables, even after the job is finished. automatically generate a service ticket. The service Data-driven services and digital business processes engineer responsible then takes a defined series of lay the foundations for optimised maintenance pro- measures and, if necessary, contacts the user without cesses for sheetfed offset presses from Koenig & Bauer. delay to discuss scheduled maintenance and avert any Most of the customer-oriented services are based on unplanned downtime. performance data from the presses and their log files. LogoTronic now features a new and versatile, oper- PressCall improves communication with the remote ating and press data-based reporting tool, the Perfor- maintenance service and optimises communication mance Analytics Plus option, which will be able to

24 RIND Survey August 2020 Industry Updates be accessed by means of the Customer Community expertise to offer digitization support to local com- in future. Performance Analytics Plus enables print panies outside the media industry, because the digital companies to analyse processes from different per- transformation is still a predominant issue for many spectives in order to maximise the performance of branches of the economy. their Rapida technology. Job histories, production The minister also pointed out that the printing time records and much more can be visualised ad-hoc industry was one of the first sectors of the economy in configurable dashboards that adapt to individual to feel the full force of the digital transformation. requirements. Even complex trend analyses that allow “And I’ve now seen with my own eyes that the prod- the user’s own long-term strategies to be monitored ucts developed by ppi Media are a key driving force can be generated with just a few clicks. for this global process – in both the planning and All these details add up to make the Rapida 106 X production of newspapers and other print products,” the most powerful and most efficient medium-format said Minister Buchholz. Rapida that the market has ever seen. Hauke Berndt and Manuel Scheyda welcomed the intensive exchange with Minister Buchholz and other guests: “We’re very pleased with the visit and the huge ppi Media plays host to interest shown by the minister in our business pro- important visitor cesses and strategies. The tour organised by DiWiSH is a really good way to stimulate dialog between busi- Minister Buchholz was welcomed at ppi Media GmbH nesses and policy-makers in Schleswig-Holstein.” in Kiel by CEO Hauke Berndt and COO Manuel Scheyda. The companies on the minister’s tour were chosen as unsung heroes of the digital industry and Koenig & Bauer publishes beacons of the digital economy in Schleswig-Hol- stein. The organisers of the tour wanted to show first half report… the impressive innovations for the digital economy In addition to the general investment restraint on the driven by companies in Schleswig-Holstein while rais- part of many customers in the corona crisis, travel ing awareness amongst policy-makers, businesses and bans, lockdowns and other restrictions significantly society. affected the business figures of the Koenig & Bauer Minister Buchholz, who has in-depth knowledge group in the first half of 2020. The restrictions caused of the publishing industry as the former CEO of by the Covid-19 pandemic particularly impeded deliv- Gruner + Jahr AG & Co KG, was impressed by the eries of the presses to the international customers as extensive range of solutions developed by ppi Media well as the worldwide deployment of the assembly for the international publishing sector and praised staff and service technicians. the fact that the Kiel-based company is also using its At €480.2m, orders were 16.2 per cent lower than in the previous year, although this was better than the sector trend for printing presses published by industry association VDMA. At €404.5m, revenue fell short of the previous year by 20.1 per cent. On the cost side, massive measures were taken to address the effects of the crisis, introducing short-time working from 1 April 2020 alongside other steps. EBIT improved substantially from –€34.9m in Q1 to –€6m in Q2. For the first half of the year, EBIT was –€40.9m after €0.6m in the previous year. At –€44.2m, net earnings as of 30 June corresponds to earnings per share of –€2.68. L-r: Manuel Scheyda, Bernd Buchholz, Johannes Ripken and Hauke Despite substantially lower trade receivables and Berndt. higher customer prepayments, the half-year loss and

August 2020 RIND Survey 25 Industry Updates

to lower orders in the web offset press business and for flexible packaging printing. At €51.6m, revenue was down on the previous year (€64.5m). The order backlog contracted from €111.2m to €71.2m. The lower revenue had a significant impact on the EBIT of –€12.1m (2019: –€10.8m). … and Report No. 56 Koenig & Bauer Report No. 56 is out now. The latest issue of the Group’s customer magazine shines a Revenue and orders for the large-format sheetfed offset presses and folder spotlight on the latest news and innovations that will gluers used in the packaging sector also increased during the crisis. allow the industry to continue to take important steps forward despite the coronavirus pandemic. Spanning the increase in inventories had major impacts on about 56 pages, it reports on interesting develop- cash flows from operating activities, which came to ments relating to sheetfed and web offset, post-press –€68.6m (2019: –€96.5m). The equity ratio stood at technologies, digital and flexo printing, and a broad 32.2 per cent at the end of June 2020. spectrum of special applications. Despite the substantial gains with large-format In his editorial, president and CEO Claus Bolza- sheetfed offset presses and folder gluers, order intake Schünemann refers to the challenges currently facing in the Sheetfed segment declined by 12.9 per cent over the industry and the still incalculable consequences to the previous year’s figure of €330.6m to €288m due be overcome by companies all over the world in the to lower orders for medium and half-format presses. wake of the CoVID-19 pandemic. Koenig & Bauer Revenue of €205.5m was 20.6 per cent lower than the immediately implemented measures to safeguard its previous year’s figure (€258.9m) for delivery-related delivery capabilities, service readiness and spare parts reasons and due to the effects of the pandemic. With supplies. As a printing press manufacturer, it was the book-to-bill ratio coming to 1.4, order backlog particularly important to be well prepared, as many rose from €261.6m to €265.9m. Due to lower reve- customers are direct partners to the food, pharmaceu- nue, EBIT of –€17.4m was below the previous year ticals and beverage industries, and can therefore be (–€1.3m). classified as absolutely system-relevant. Order intake in the Digital & Web segment came to The magazine informs readers about product innova- €56.7m, down from €89.9m in the previous year, due tions such as the ultra-compact Evo XC, the decades-

The high-end Rapida 106 X press for medium-format sheetfed offset, which was presented at the virtual trade fair Koenig & Bauer Live in June, sets The latest 56-page issue of Koenig & Bauer Report spotlights current news, new performance standards in industrial printing. innovations and trends from the print industry

26 RIND Survey August 2020 Industry Updates long success story for Koenig & Bauer in large-format ity utilisation. Under the currently uncertain general sheetfed offset, and the development of the digital Vari- conditions, the impact on revenue and earnings in the JET press together with joint venture partner Durst. 2020 financial year cannot yet be quantified. “In parallel to the corona crisis management, we are working intensively on the Performance 2024 effi- Shareholders approve all ciency programme, evaluating various scenarios. In resolutions at virtual AGM addition, improvements in working capital and cash flow are at the top of the agenda alongside the stra- In addition to details of the group’s business perfor- tegic focus on packaging printing and digital services. mance in 2019 and in the first quarter of 2020, the To strengthen the stability and strategic flexibility of numerous product innovations and the successfully the group, the management board and the supervi- launched offensive for digitisation with the service sory board decided to apply for a flexibly repayable business as a main topic were the focus of the first KfW loan with a volume of up to €120m to supple- virtual annual general meeting of Koenig & Bauer AG. ment the existing syndicated credit lines (Direct Par- The management board reported that the coronavi- ticipation in Syndicated Loans). Among others, no rus pandemic, which has been spreading rapidly since dividend distributions are permitted during the term January, has already had a considerable impact on rev- of the KfW loan. After the plans for increasing the enue and earnings in the current financial year. Said operating profitability and performance of the group CEO Claus Bolza-Schünemann: “Our broad product have been adopted, we will report promptly on the portfolio with a significant share of revenue in sys- targets and costs of the Performance 2024 efficiency tem-relevant packaging printing, the robust, increas- programme.” ingly digital service business and our sound balance sheet with a high equity ratio limit the risk potential. With the corona crisis management established Koenig & Bauer opens in March, we are working to actively counter this new hall for print demos extraordinary situation. The health and safety of our employees, customers and suppliers is our top priority. Koenig & Bauer recently opened its new hall and now Our action plan focuses on reliable customer support, offers more than 3000m2 of floor space for print dem- cost and investment discipline and securing liquid- onstrations at its Radebeul location, near Dresden. ity. There were almost no restrictions on the supply The occasion marked the culmination of a project to chain. Short-time working has, however, been in place at different locations since 1 April 2020 due to capac-

Inauguration of the new CEC in Radebeul (l-r): Dirk Winkler, head of print technology, product management and product marketing, Claus Bolza- Schünemann, president and CEO of Koenig & Bauer, Ralf Sammeck, Koenig & Bauer management board member and CEO of Koenig & Koenig & Bauer AG’s 95th annual general meeting took place as a virtual Bauer Sheetfed, and Thomas Göcke, head of digital business transformation, event for the first time. hand the new building over to its future users.

August 2020 RIND Survey 27 Industry Updates

Koenig & Bauer is looking forward to intensive use of the new CEC by customers and other visitors from all over the world over the coming weeks. Scodix launches productivity workflow package Scodix, the world’s leading provider of digital enhancement solutions for the graphic arts industry, has announced today the launch of a new productivity workflow package, Scodix Studio Station. Developed to boost press utilisation and production flexibility, Scodix’ The first machinery – the brand new Rapida 106 is shown here – is ready for individual print tests. new workflow solution can process jobs up to 60 per cent faster for Ultra Digital Enhancement Press users. upgrade the company’s existing demonstration facil- “This new solution allows printers to prepare more ity into a global Customer Experience Centre (CEC). jobs, faster, handle large volume variable-data jobs For customers and other interested visitors, the CEC and process jobs from various sources more effi- offers around one-third more space – packed with the ciently,” says Amit Shvartz, Scodix CMO. “As every very latest equipment – for press and machine dem- digital printer knows, uptime is imperative to profit- onstrations, application testing, the development of ability, and Scodix Studio Station will help printers new technologies and for training purposes. The indi- maximise the efficiency and productivity of their digi- vidual sections focus on the specialised areas of pack- tal enhancement operations.” aging, commercial and label production Scodix Studio Station is an enhancement digital The new hall, the Packaging Competence Cen- front end (EDFE) with Scodix software running on tre within the CEC, will house three packaging lines dedicated Scodix hardware. The system has an exter- comprising three printing presses and four post-press nal RIP server, making RIPs faster and automatic, machines once fully set up. Koenig & Bauer will then with an easy-to-use interface, and incorporates two be able to showcase its one-stop-shop concept for new registration methods. packaging production – with flat-bed and rotary die- “Scodix has always provided best-in-class registration. cutters, folder-gluers and fully automated material Until now that has been achieved by detecting four flows. Meeting areas with direct views of the production lines, workstations to illustrate digital workflow integration and a full range of modern media equipment contribute to an atmosphere conducive to tests, production trials, demonstrations, discussions and negotiations. The machinery that is already installed and ready for demonstrations includes a latest-generation medium- format sheetfed offset press, this being a Rapida 106 X with seven printing units, double-coating facilities, an additional printing unit after the first coater and the coil foil system FoilTronic, as well as an Omega All- pro 110 folder-gluer and a CutPRO X 106 rotary die- cutter. The next step will see the addition of a Rapida 145 and a CutPro M 144. The Scodix Studio Station’s interface.

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look to provide maximum value, productivity and ROI – the new Scodix Studio Station does just that.” Scodix is a leading provider of digital print enhancement presses for the graphic arts industry, giving print service providers and converters real, measurable added value to the products they deliver to their customers. Scodix gives you the tools you need to expand your product portfolio to put you one step ahead of the competition. The Scodix Ultra family of presses and the Scodix E106 press range includes: Scodix Sensewith exceptional tactile results for embossed effects, Scodix Foil delivering foil enhancement capabilities, Scodix Spotfor silkscreen effects, Scodix VDP/VDE(with barcode) for personalisation, Scodix Metallicfor metallic coloring, Scodix Glitterfor illustrating the effects of glitter, Scodix Braille, Scodix Crystalcreating real 3D sparkling effects, and Scodix Cast&Cure illustrating holographic dramatic effects. What’s more, all Scodix applications are manufactured on a single Scodix digital enhancement press. LabelPrint OÜ chooses Durst Tau for switch to digital Durst has announced the official start of beta testing of its new Tau RSCi label press at label converter Scodix’ new workflow solution can process jobs up to 60 percent faster for LabelPrint OÜ. The new single-pass UV inkjet label Ultra Digital Enhancement Press users. press, which was announced at Labelexpo Brussels last year, was installed at its headquarters in Tallinn, OPA dots. With Scodix ARP(Automatic Registration Estonia, in July 2020. Process), Scodix Studio Station can achieve registra- LabelPrint OÜ became a Durst Tau 330 customer tion down to 100µm, using corner detection or CMYK already five years ago. Since then, they actively devel- objects detection. For trade printers and PSPs receiv- oped digital print services to its client base and a ing jobs from lots of different sources, this will simplify trustful relation has been built between Durst and the process and allow them to access the full power of LabelPrint OÜ during the past years. Therefore, it Scodix Digital Enhancement,” says Shvartz. was a logical step that Durst approached LabelPrint Scodix Studio Station was developed for the Scodix OÜ as the first-choice beta test candidate. After ini- Ultra family of Digital Enhancement Presses and joins tial trials in late 2019, Sten Sarap, owner of LabelPrint Scodix Studio W2P and Scodix Studio W2P Custom- OÜ, committed to be the beta test site for the new ized in the company’s workflow solutions portfolio. and revolutionary RSCi press. This was postponed for “Scodix digital enhancement provides a perfect solu- three months due to the Covid-19 lockdown. tion for businesses looking to distinguish themselves The new Tau RSCi features print widths of 330, 420 from the competition. With over 350 installations in or 508mm (13, 16.5 or 20 ins) and a higher printing more than 65 countries, Scodix is constantly develop- speed of up to 100 linear m/min. New features for ing new ways to add value for its diverse customer- the RSC portfolio include a high opacity white print base,” asserts Shvartz. “As with all our products, we mode for an increased screen-like opacity and a high

August 2020 RIND Survey 29 Industry Updates

Durst is a global manufacturer of advanced digital printing and production technologies. In the active areas, Durst is a preferred partner for the transformation and digitalisation of industrial production processes. Durst is a family company with an 80-year history in which innovative strength, customer orien- tation, sustainability and quality are the central values. Monadnock launches new premium-coated paper line Monadnock Paper Mills Inc, the oldest continuously operating paper mill in the United States, announced Labelprint Betatest RSCi media. that its newest line of coated text and cover papers, Astrolite PC 100 Velvet C2S, is the only premium, speed white mode that allows high speed printing at coated 100-percent recycled sheet compatible with 80 lin. m/min of all colors, including white. heatset web presses that is manufactured in the US. “This new press will mainly be used to transfer longer run flexo jobs onto a digital platform,” says Sarap. “It is too early to make big statements. However, we are very confident that this new press with its revolutionary print quality and high printing speed will help us to reduce production cost and improve lead times. And thanks to its amazing print quality it will help to innovate our business and make us more competitive.” “As a company that provides high quality sticker and print labels, the new Tau RSCi label press will be crucial in our mission to offer the shortest possible deadlines and competitive prices to meet customers’ individual requirements and needs.” LabelPrint OÜs customer base includes beverage manufacturers, chemical and pharmaceutical industries as well as sectors. Formed almost 20 years ago, the company also has a sales office and warehouse at Tartu in the south of Estonia. Says Helmuth Munter, Durst’s segment manager, Labels and Flexible Packaging: “We’re delighted to announce LabelPrint OÜ as the beta test site and wish them ongoing success. Labels continues to be a significant growth business for Durst, not least because increasing numbers of converters are recog- Monadnock Paper Mills, Inc, the oldest continuously operating paper mill nising the benefits of transferring more volume from in the United States, announced that its newest line of coated text and flexo to our digital platform. The introduction of the cover papers, Astrolite PC 100® Velvet C2S, is the only premium, coated Tau RSCi has generated a large amount of interest in 100-percent recycled sheet compatible with heatset web presses that is the marketplace since it was launched in September.” manufactured in the U.S.

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“Commercial web printers finally have a premium company’s ENVIPortfolio of products features fibre- coated choice for sustainable and quality-conscious based solutions that replace plastic for uses such as brands,” says Julie Brannen, director, Sustainability gift cards and tags. Solutions, Monadnock. “Velvet is not glossy – it offers a more natural aesthetic quality with coated results.” In independent testing, Velvet demonstrated supe- Vollherbst inks deal for rior performance with no defects: EcoLeaf metallization unit • On an 8-color Rotoman AC press, the 80 lb. text Actega Metal Print GmbH has announced that one of weight printed up to 35,000 impressions per hour Germany’s leading labels printers, Vollherbst Druck (1,145 fpm) without any web breaks and resulted GmbH, will start utilising an EcoLeaf metallisation in excellent print quality. unit from A B Graphic International (ABG). Follow- • The product ran to standard operating densities ing organisational learnings and the ability to offer the without any major changes to fountain keys. technology’s unique benefits to its core market first, • Velvet offered a good operating window for paper the company predicts ROI from EcoLeaf in only six and ink tack build and will sustain up to eight months. colors down on each side. Marking the first EcoLeaf order to be booked by Actega Metal Print’s recently announced global com- Made with 100-percent post-consumer waste-recy- mercial partner ABG – also representing the first joint cled fibre that is third-party certified and responsibly beta site between both parties –the breakthrough sourced, Astrolite PC 100 enables brands, market- solution is expected to be installed in September 2020 ers, and creatives to access a sustainable selection of on Vollherbst’s existing A B Graphic Digicon Series 3 papers for high end catalogs, magazines, fashion look- converting machine. books, direct mail, college viewbooks, museum exhi- The introduction of EcoLeaf will enable the com- bitions and more. The Astrolite PC 100 Velvet line pany to offer an alternative solution to traditional hot offers a universal print coating optimized for com- foil for a large and growing percentage of its jobs, sig- mercial sheet-fed and heat-set wet offset HP Indigo nificantly improving its sustainability credentials. In (LEP) and dry toner (DP) presses. A range of sheet addition, the new technology will allow Vollherbst to sizes will be stocked for quick and ready access to the customise the metallic colours it can offer, as well as design community. add new applications for its metallized embellishments. Made with the environment in mind, as with all Says Matthias Vollherbst, MD, VollherbstDruck Monadnock’s fine text and cover papers, Astrolite PC GmbH: “EcoLeaf ’s sustainability benefits were the 100 Velvet is FSC Certified (FSC C018866), manufactured carbon neutral (VERs) and made with 100 per cent renewable Green-e certified wind-powered elec- tricity (RECs) under a third-party certified ISO 14001 Environmental Management System. “We’ve created a coating that stands up to the rigors of a broad range of printing presses and inks,” says Paul Ciccone, VP of Research and Development, Monadnock. “This heatset web qualification brings us to home plate with a winner for the environment and for our customers.” Monadnock Paper Mills (MPM) provides and custom-engineers a diverse range of products including technical/ specialty papers, and premium printing and Stefan Vollherbst, head of Resource Management & Matthias Vollherbst, packaging papers for leading brands worldwide. The managing owner at VollherbstDruck GmbH.

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our family of customers. They are a very progressive business, and we believe, ideally placed to maximise our technology. We’re excited to see how they leverage EcoLeaf to push the boundaries of label design.” Actega Metal Print was founded in February 2017, with a mission to revolutionise the graphic arts industry with a sustainable technology that reduces the amount of material, waste, cost and production time required to create metallic embellishments - replacing today’s conventional processes that are mainly foil- based. To achieve this, Altana’s ACTEGA division acquired what is now known as EcoLeaf a technology first unveiled at the drupa 2016 print exhibition Actega Metal Print EcoLeaf Print Sample. by Benny Landa, founder of the Landa Group.

primary reason for the order. When Actega acquired Metallography from Landa, we soon started to collab- Monadnock ties up with orate and test the technology together. Whereas hot Clampitt Paper foil has its limitations, EcoLeaf allows us to quickly and flexibly metallize without waiting for foil blocks Monadnock Paper Mills Inc has announced that or embossing tools – and the quality is great. What’s it has entered into a new distribution partnership more, the solution is clearly geared to allow large with Clampitt Paper Company, a leading privately- metallized surface areas in the future – which hot foil held paper merchant servicing customers across the can’t easily handle – so in time, it presents another Southwest United States. opportunity for us to expand our range of embellish- “Our shared values, customer-centric focus, and ment options. However, with its immediate benefits, commitment to sustainable practices and products we anticipate increased possibilities for brand owners make this a perfect partnership,” says Lisa Taylor, VP and swift customer take-up.” of Sales and Marketing at Monadnock Paper Mills. In 2021, VollherbstDruck GmbH will celebrate 100 “We couldn’t be more pleased to collaborate with years in business. As a family-run company employ- Clampitt so they can provide even greater sustainable ing over 110 people and working with more than 300 paper choices to current and prospective clients.” brand owners internationally, more than ever, innova- “This new partnership brings together two long-time, tion and customer service is central to its DNA. In family-owned companies with a shared commitment support of that philosophy, Vollherbst has diversified its offering in recent years, to include label consul- tancy and other creative solutions such as augmented reality. As such, the business now considers itself a label specialist first, and a label printer second. Commenting on its first EcoLeaf order, Matt Bur- ton, sales director for A B Graphic International, said: “Vollherbst is a lighthouse customer for us, representing everything that’s great about our industry and a perfect ambassador for our products. Given EcoLe- af ’s unique credentials, we expect this to be the first of many orders to come.” Jan Franz Allerkamp, MD of Actega Metal Print comments: “We are also thrilled to add Vollherbst to A Swatchbook print demo flier.

32 RIND Survey August 2020 Industry Updates to the future success of our clients and customers,” said Don Clampitt, Clampitt Paper. “That future lies in offering paper options that don’t require compromise between luxury, performance and sustainability -- and we’re excited to expand our reach with these new product lines.” Clampitt Paper is offering Monadnock’s new coated Astrolite PC 100 Velvet and uncoated Astrolite PC 100 Smooth. Crafted from 100 per cent post-consumer waste (PCW) recycled materials, Astrolite PC 100 lines are FSC Certified (FSC C018866), manufac- The HP Latex R-Series printer. tured carbon-neutral (VERs) and made with 100 per cent renewable Green-e certified wind-powered elec- around the world after the Covid-19 pandemic, the tricity (RECs) under a third-party certified ISO 14001 need to stand out will be even more important. The HP Environmental Management System. Latex R-Series printer with rigid and flexible capabili- Monadnock PC 100 Velvet line offers a universal ties enables printers to target retail signage, point-of- print coating optimized for commercial sheet-fed and purchase, decoration, outdoor signage, vehicle straps heat-set web offset, HP Indigo (LEP) and dry toner and graphics, packaging, and even short-run labels for (EP) presses. A range of sheet sizes are stocked for their brand clients. With the Color-Logic tools, any quick and ready access to the design community. designer can predictably add amazing embellishments Clampitt Paper has 21 locations total with offices in into print using the HP Latex engine with HP White Austin, Ft. Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Oklahoma and CMYK inks.” City, Kansas, New Mexico, and its newest location in Springfield, Missouri. Its Creative Center and Sample Room are located at the company’s Dallas headquar- Get social distancing signs ters as well as the Houston location. right, with Drytac guide Drytac has compiled a new, free guide on how signs Color-Logic certifies and graphics can be used effectively and safely to HP Latex R-Series printers inform and provide guidance to people in accordance with government guidelines. As lockdown restrictions Color-Logic has certified those HP Latex R-Series are eased and we transition to a new normal, busi- printers that are delivered with HP White ink. Upon nesses are finding that floor graphics, wall displays reviewing the certification samples submitted, Rich- and window signs are essential for non-verbal com- ard Ainge, Color-Logic CTO and co-founder, communication. Graphics can convey safety information mented: “The samples were printed on a metallic such as social distancing, hand washing guidance stock with HP White and CMYK inks. The combina- and queuing systems, and to alert customers about tion of the Color-Logic software and the HP Latex updated services or opening hours. White ink created dramatic Color-Logic embellish- As we enter uncharted territory, best practices ments, and the HP CMYK inks produced vibrant remain essential for businesses to ensure their legal metallic colours.” obligations are met and people are kept safe. Drytac’s Mark Geeves, Color-Logic director of Sales and new guide, Open, Innovating, Moving Forward, is intended Marketing, said: “The HP Latex platform, in combi- to help retailers and installers to choose the correct nation with Color-Logic software for embellishments, graphics solutions that meet these requirements. It enables print service providers to help their brands outlines what to look for – from fire ratings to slip rat- stand out from the completion in a variety of printing ings to FDA approvals – and lists Drytac’s products applications. As stores and brands begin to relaunch that may be suitable for relevant applications. These

August 2020 RIND Survey 33 Industry Updates

perceived as being of low value. That couldn’t be further from the truth. By spending just a few more pence or cents on a graphics solution with a high- quality release liner you can save yourself a lot of hassle, time and, ultimately, money. Typically paper-based (although they can be made of polyester/polypropylene), release liners are usually applied during the manufacturing process of print media, including films made from PVC, polyester, polypropylene and synthetic paper. Coated on one or both sides with a release agent, they are used to prevent the sticky surface of a substrate from adhering prematurely or to the wrong surface. There are a number of key aspects of release lin- The Drytac guide. ers that can affect their compatibility for a job. For example, some printers use extreme heat which can are categorised into window graphic solutions, one- shock cheaper liners, potentially causing cockling or part and two-part floor graphic solutions, writable head strikes. Using a higher-quality PE-coated liner media, wall graphic products and antimicrobial films. will help the material lie flat during the printing cycle. The free-to-download guide is both easy to use and A thicker release liner is also required to stabilise thin interactive: clicking on a product listed in the guide materials during printing. For instance, a 50-micron will open the associated Drytac webpage, provid- polyester would normally be too delicate, but the cor- ing more details, datasheets and application videos. rect release liner enables their use. In addition, opti- “We’re seeing more short-term graphics than ever cally clear materials require an opaque or white liner before and it’s absolutely essential that they are safe so machines can see the materials and print on them. and legal for their specific environments,” says Shaun A good liner will also add stability during cutting, Holdom, Global Product Manager for Drytac. “Our especially on integrated printer/cutters where the new guide will help businesses make the right decision material is gripped by pinch rollers. These machines when choosing and installing informative graphics.” truly whizz the material around, so the liner has to Open, Innovating, Moving Forward is available to down- grip to give accurate cut lines. load for free now. Simply visit https://www.drytac. The weight will also influence installation; a heavier com/socialdistancingsolutions/ to download a copy. release liner will help the graphics lay flat to ensure a much easier installation process. Air release liners have added technology to make materials easy to Release liners key to use: tiny channels which enable air to flow and not great graphics When installing self-adhesive graphics, the last thing you probably think about is the remnants you throw away. However, the quality of these remnants - better known as release liners - can make a significant difference to the printing and installation process of a graphic, and the end result. Release liners are a critical feature of self-adhesive print media. They are a key component for the delivery of the product and the application performance, but as they are ultimately disposed of they are often High-quality release liners are crucial to easy printing and installation.

34 RIND Survey August 2020 Industry Updates

For something that is usually considered waste and is thrown away, a lot of technology goes into good- quality release liners. Spending a little more on a better product will prevent printer damage, reduce downtime and speed up the installation process, making the job easier and cheaper in the long run

(From a blog written by D’Arcy Lewis, technical sales manager, at Drytac.) Acculink receives Color-Logic certification AccuFlex Packaging, a subsidiary of Acculink, based in Greenville, North Carolina, has become the first flexible packaging printer to receive Color-Logic certification. AccuFlex Packaging recently completed Color-Logic test forms printed with their new HP Indigo 20000 for flexible packaging, and results are outstanding. Acculink was one of the first Color- Logic certified printers, the first US digital printer to offer Scodix digital finishing, and is now the first Color-Logic certified flexible packaging printer.” Release liners are a critical feature of self-adhesive print media. get trapped between the material and surface, which would otherwise create bubbles. Standard PVC is not porous so this release paper technology makes graphics materials, particularly those used in vehicle wrap- ping, more forgiving. Paper absorbs and disperses moisture from the air, always trying to achieve a balance. This constant The AccuFlex packaging production line. change, due to the environment, can cause lay-flat challenges. Moisture stable release papers overcome Says Tim Mages, AccuFlex Packaging president, this challenge. They are coated on both sides with “The eye-popping graphics that the HP Indigo press polyethylene which inhibits the absorption of mois- prints, together with the unique Color-Logic software ture and eliminates changes in the paper’s profile. and our coating/laminating, slitting and finishing The paper is then siliconised on the adhesive recep- equipment, put AccuFlex Packaging on the cutting tive side. edge of flexible packaging today.” All Drytac’s products with release liners are designed to tick every box for higher quality. Only dimension- ally stable base papers are used, with two-sided PE Soar Print wins international coating for moisture stability. Silicone, adhesive and label competition paper chemistries are specially formulated to eliminate tunnelling of the media and to work with Dry- Soar Print, a label and general commercial printer in tac’s adhesive solutions. Auckland, New Zealand, recently won first place in

August 2020 RIND Survey 35 Industry Updates

Furthermore, during periods of social change or difficult trading conditions, every business needs to stay relevant. Retailers and other public-facing companies need to grab their customers’ attention - and not just once, but time and time again to retain an ongoing, loyal relationship. Installing temporary graphics is an effective, affordable way to regularly refresh a brand and promote up-to-the-minute messages. Temporary graphics offer almost unlimited creative potential. It’s possible to wrap whole buildings, inside and out, with colourful designs and branded messages. Walls, windows, doors, ceilings, elevators, stairs, floors, shelf edges, counters - you can advertise in 360º. However, with so many options to choose from, it’s possible to overwhelm customers. Soar Print award-winning labels with Color-Logic Metallics. Instead, choose your graphics carefully for the the Digital Print - Wine and Spirits category at World biggest impact. Focus on one or two parts of your Label Awards 2019. The winning wine bottle labels space - for instance the windows or the walls - and were commissioned by Vine Street, a New Zealand refresh them regularly to engage with your market fruit wine producer, and were printed on an HP Indigo more effectively, and more long-term, than a flood WS6800 press. The World Label Awards competi- of permanent graphics. Short-term graphics need to tion is conducted by the L9 Group of international be applied quickly and, just as importantly, replaced label associations and is often termed “The Technical quickly too. Drytac has a large selection of short-term Oscars of the Label Industry.” The 2019 competition graphic solutions that can be applied by hand with no named 27 winners and 21 honorable mentions in sev- specialist equipment - and no need to hire a profes- eral categories. sional installer - and can be removed cleanly without Soar Print General Manager Brian Landry, who leaving adhesive residue. These products can also be produced the winning label, says: “We use the Color- layered over existing graphics, speeding up installa- Logic software to produce sparkling labels for sev- tion further. eral New Zealand consumer product manufacturers. Graphics media also need to withstand the duration Color-Logic made the difference in the Vine Street of the promotion without fading, ripping or curling label, which won the 2019 New Zealand Pride com- at the edges. In short, they shouldn’t attract attention petition before taking the World Label 2019 award.” for the wrong reasons. To meet these requirements, it’s important to use the right graphics media for each job. Using a product just because its sticks to brick or Using graphics for timely, glass can result in problems down the line. There are a lot of self-adhesive films and mounting impactful messages adhesives on the market that have been designed for Social distancing has become standard practice across specific applications, such as window graphics. They the world in recent weeks. As businesses and pub- will have been developed as an ideal blank canvas for lic spaces reopen or prepare for a swell in customer vibrant prints, to be easy to install, to offer durability numbers, it’s essential to provide guidance in the form against everyday wear and tear, and to be simple and of graphics. Whether they are floor graphics designat- clean to remove without residue. For example, Dry- ing to stand apart, or wall or window decals informing tac SpotOn vinyl films feature adhesive arranged in shoppers of a new queuing system, printed displays a unique dot pattern that assists air egress, removing are reliable form of direction. bubbles upon application and easing removal. Drytac

36 RIND Survey August 2020 Industry Updates

SpotOn White and Drytac SpotOn Clear monomeric PVC films perform brilliantly on window glass, show- casing promotional messages at their best, and can be repositioned and removed easily without leaving smears. Similarly, Drytac ReTac Smooth 150 polymeric PVC film is coated with ReTac ultra removable and repositionable adhesive which makes it easy to get the installation of wall and window graphics just right. Alternatively, Drytac WindowTac is a clear, double- sided mounting adhesive with a unique embossed release liner, that allows printed temporary graphics to be easily installed onto glass, acrylic and other non- porous surfaces. Drytac has also recently launched Protac Antimi- crobial in the UK, a new laminating film that con- tains antimicrobial additives to protect graphics and A PVC-free 100 percent recyclable aluminium print media designed for surfaces against bacteria and fungus. These growth durable floor graphics in outdoor locations, without the need for lamination.. inhibitors are added to the film during the manufacturing process to ensure even distribution and dura- low-energy surfaces, thanks to its uniquely developed bility throughout the life of the graphic, even after adhesive. Its aluminium composition provides extra repeated cleaning. durability in high-traffic areas for up to twelve months without the need for lamination. (From blog written by Shaun Holdom, Polar Street FX has achieved several slip ratings global product manager, Drytac.) and certifications, including DIN 51130:2010 where it achieved a R12 and has passed the ANSI A137.1/ Drytac solution for A326.3 slip test. This makes it ideal for public areas such as shopping streets. durable floor graphics As a one-part solution, Polar Street FX can be installed straight from the print room, with no heat Drytac has released Polar Street FX, a PVC-free alu- required for application and no overlaminate product minium print media designed for durable floor graph- necessary. Eco-friendly disposal is also simple: alu- ics in outdoor locations without lamination. The minium-based Polar Street FX is PVC-free, meaning latest addition to Drytac’s already extensive portfolio it is 100 percent recyclable. is in response to significant market demand for floor Drytac Polar Street FX is a 250µ (10 mil) textured graphics as a social distancing tool, while reflecting printable white matte aluminium film, coated on one the need for products that are quick to produce, easy side with a clear, high tack adhesive. It is available in to apply and safe for their specific environments. widths of up to 1,200mm (48”) and is compatible “There is a huge market for floor graphics, and we with all common digital printing technologies includ- expect that to continue for some months,” says Shaun ing eco-solvent, solvent, latex and UV. Holdom, global product manager, Drytac. “It’s essential for any print businesses offering this application to provide graphics that are safe and durable, however urgent the timeframe.” Drytac Polar Street FX has been especially developed to adhere securely to rough ground surfaces including concrete, brick and asphalt, and any other

August 2020 RIND Survey 37 General News

Malini Parthasarathy named tual tribute. The event titled ‘M. P. Veerendra Kumar - A Virtual Tribute’ was livestreamed on Mathrubhu- chairperson, The Hindu Group mi’s Facebook page and on YouTube. Malini Parthasarathy has been named as the chairper- Hosted by economist, Jairam Ramesh, member of son of the Board of Directors of The Hindu Group. Parliament, delivered the opening remarks and an She will be taking over the reins from N. Ram who introduction, followed by a heartwarming three min- stepped down from the position at the age of 75. ute video depicting the journey of Veerendra Kumar. The decision was announced at the board of direc- India’s Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu inau- tors meeting held on July 15. Parthasarathy, the former gurated the event and delivered a keynote address editor of The Hindu, commended her predecessor Ram in memory of the legendary socialist and the press for steering the 142-year-old newspaper through times baron. “He was a multifaceted personality, a politi- of crisis. She highlighted and lauded his contribu- cian, prolific writer, journalist and environmentalist. tions to the organisation, especially for bringing about In his journalistic role and as member of various a synergy between editorial and business aspects of media bodies, Kumar pioneered the various cam- the newspaper. Ram expressed his confidence in Par- paigns over freedom of press,” Naidu said. Naidu thasarathy who has not only contributed to The Hindu appealed to everyone to draw inspiration from the in an editorial capacity but also taken an active interest likes of Kumar and adopt a more empathetic attitude in the business side of the company. towards the fellow citizens. Former Congress president Rahul Gandh, Kerala (Courtesy: exchange4media.com) Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, Mizoram Gover- nor P. S. Sreedharan Pillai and SitaramYechuri spoke. Dainik Jagran’s Sanjay Gupta on Makkal Needhi Maiam President Kamal Haasan, actress and former MP Jayaprada, and environmen- Prasar Bharati Board tal activist Vandana Shiva shared their experiences, Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati will have five new narrated incidents and shared thoughts about Kumar. part-time members on its boards, according to media The Hindu Group’s N. Ram, former INS President reports, including Dainik Jagran editor-in-chief San- and former PTI cCairman H. N. Cama, and Inter- jay Gupta. The other four members will be veteran national Advertising Association Chairman Srinivasa journalist Ashok Tandon, music composer Salim Swamy also spoke. P.V. Chandran, Chairman and Merchant, BJP leader Shaina NC and corporate per- Managing Editor, Mathrubhumi, and M.V. Shreyams sonality Alok Agarwal, say the reports. The board Kumar, son of Veerendra Kumar and MD, Mathrub- looks into the functioning of Doordarshan and the humi, were present. All India Radio. There can be six part-time members on the board. Currently, five of these posts had been WAN-IFRA progs rescheduled vacant. The sixth member currently is actress Kajol. Due to continued uncertainties and travel constraints (Courtesy: exchange4media.com) around the COVID-19 pandemic, WAN-IFRA is calling off the World News Media Congress, which M.P. Veerendra Kumar’s birthday was initially planned for Zaragoza, Spain, in Sep- commemorated tember 2020. Meanwhile, it has named Taiwan as its venue for the 2021 Congress and rescheduled the Former Mathrubhumi Managing Director and Chair- 2022 Congress in Zaragoza. man M.P. Veerendrakumar was felicitated on his 84th WAN-IFRA CEO Vincent Peyregne said: “It is birthday – he was commemorated online with a vir- with a great deal of disappointment that we have

38 RIND Survey August 2020 Other News had to cancel this year’s World Congress. Two years GNI APAC Subscriptions Lab from now, we will make good our promise to take the World News Media Congress again to Zaragoza in launched 2022.” Next year, the world’s press is invited to Tai- The World Association of News Publishers (WAN- pei, Taiwan, from 23 to 25 June 2021, to attend the IFRA), FTI Consulting and Google have announced 73rd World News Media Congress including the 28th the launch of the APAC GNI Subscriptions Lab at the World Editors Forum and the 5th Women in News WAN-IFRA Asian Media Leaders eSummit.. The Lab Summit. is an intensive four-month programme to help eight “I am delighted to be able to announce today the different news publishers from the Asia-Pacific Region return of the World Congress to Asia, eight years strengthen digital subscriptions capabilities and grow after its historic landmark in Bangkok,” said Pey- reader revenue. regne.” 2021 will be a pivotal year at a time when the The programme is an Asian Pacific expansion of pandemic has undercut the predictability of normal GNI Subscriptions Labs in North America, Latin life, and news publishers are seeking answers to vital, America and Europe and is part of the Google News even existential, issues as they adjust their strategies, Initiative (GNI) which provides products, partner- evolve and transform. At some point Covid-19 will ship and training to help the news industry succeed be vanquished, news enterprises will bounce back. in the digital age. The APAC GNI Subscriptions Lab But it won’t be a return to normal. Getting to normal is being developed in partnership with FTI Consult- is not so much about getting back the old normality ing and WAN-IFRA and draws on FTI Consulting’s as it is about getting back the ability to know what is expertise in helping global news publishers develop going to happen tomorrow. Taipei will, therefore, be a successful digital subscription businesses, Google’s crucial and timely meeting point. The 2021 Congress resource support across the digital audience, product will be a unique occasion to capture the lessons of and strategic insights, and WAN-IFRA’s extensive net- the pandemic, what it means for our relationship with work of member news publishers across the region. the public, the new economic outlook for the sector, The goal of the programme is to develop a sustain- and reaffirm the role of a free press in keeping our able and thriving digital subscriptions business for societies well informed and bringing our communi- participating news organisations. The programme will ties together.” include modules on creating loyal paying relationships The 2021 event will be organised by WAN-IFRA in with readers, optimizing the engagement and sub- partnership with UDN (United Daily News Group), scription funnel, and embracing a reader-first strategy one of Taiwan’s leading media and technology com- and culture. panies. The events will take place at Taipei’s Nangang WAN-IFRA, FTI Consulting and Google will select Exhibition Center. publishers for the programme following an online “We are extremely excited to be able to host the application process, with the goal of representing a World News Media Congress 2021 in Taipei! It has diverse cross-section of legacy print and digital-native been eight years since the Congress was last held in news organisations. Following the Lab, the experience Asia. In 2020, we all experienced dramatic changes in and knowledge gained from the programme will be the news industry and our life and work models were shared with publishers around the world to help them heavily impacted by the pandemic. Taipei 2021 will be implement their own digital subscription strategies. a great opportunity to hold conversations and reflect “News organisations who had set in motion strate- on new paths for quality journalism. We look forward gies for alternate revenue streams were able to better to seeing you in free, democratic and beautiful Tai- withstand the pressures of reduced advertising due wanm said Duncan Wang, chairman, United Daily to COVID-19. We believe it’s crucial for publishers News Group. of all sizes to find ways to grow their reader revenue (Courtesy: WAN-IFRA) to ensure a sustainable future for their business. By launching the Subscriptions Labs in APAC, we hope

August 2020 RIND Survey 39 Other News

to support and encourage more news organisations a balance between various categories of newspapers in their transitions towards this model,” says Rohan taking into account factors like circulation, language, Tiwary, head of Media, News & Entertainment Part- coverage area and target readership while releasing nerships for Google APAC. display advertisements. In case of distribution of ads, “The opportunity to work with eight Asian Pacific the ceilings earlier were ‘in terms of rupees’. It now is publishers, to help them build their own successful in terms of space, thus clearly giving an edge to the subscription businesses, was one that we were very Indian language dailies. excited to be a part of,” says Ken Harding, senior MD For this purpose, the distribution of advertisements, for FTI Consulting. “Over the next several months, among small, medium and big newspapers will be in the FTI team will be working with each publisher, terms of space (in sq cm). While the ceiling for small sharing the learnings from both our work in the GNI newspapers will be at 15 per cent, it will be 35 per cent North America Subs Lab as well as publishing clients for medium and 50 per cent for the big ones. worldwide, on how to best accelerate digital subscrip- As per the revision, the distribution of govern- tion growth. We believe that reader revenue is a key ment advertisements among newspapers of various component for a sustainable business model for news languages (in terms of space) will be 20 per cent for publishers and we are excited to be building this pro- English and 80 per cent for Indian languages. Last gramme with our partners in the Lab.” year, MIB announced a 25 per cent hike in print media “As the global association for news media compa- advertisement rates, with the revision prior to that nies, WAN-IFRA believes that a financially healthy being in 2013. Moving on from ad rates and alloca- media is essential for a free and independent press. tion, the circulation criteria for authentication from We have long championed digital subscriptions as an ABC/RNI/PIB has been reduced from 45000 copies important pathway to a sustainable media business,” to 25000. says Thomas Jacob, COO of WAN-IFRA. Initially, DAVP could incentivise big category news- Applications are open and interested publishers papers that were willing to publish advertisements should complete an application form before August of educational institutions at DAVP rates by giving 14, 2020. More information on the application process additional business of 50 per cent in volume terms and criteria are available on the Wan-IFRA website. as compared to those which are not willing to accept. (Courtesy: WAN-IFRA) A separate list of newspapers willing to publish such ads will be prepared by DAVP and those would be incentivized. This clause has been removed from the Will vernacular newspapers gain new policy. from revisions in print ad policy? However, not all newspapers are happy. Some industry heads find the new policy complicated. “Indian Government ads in print are looking at a complete Newspaper Society (INS) will take up with the minis- overhaul. The Print Media Advertisement Policy try as we have found a lot of anomalies. There should 2020, targeted at securing the widest possible cover- be a dialogue with the industry before laying down age for government ads, can be a blessing in disguise guidelines that affect the business,” said Varghese for Indian language dailies. Chandy, VP, Marketing, Advertising Sales, Malayala If market overviews are anything to go by, while Manorama. English dailies often charged government bodies pre- The draft policy mentions that the Print Media mium ad rates, the vernacular dailies had to strictly Advertisement Policy guidelines shall supersede all adhere to the DAVP rates. the earlier policy guidelines/internal guidelines of Among other objectives, the new policy targets bal- the BOC. anced distribution of advertisements in print. (Courtesy: exchange4media.com) The draft policy, to be effective from August 1, 2020, clearly states that the Bureau of Outreach and Communication (BOC) will endeavour to maintain

40 RIND Survey August 2020 RIND Survey A journal of the Press Institute of India - Research Institute for Newspaper Development Visit www.pressinstitute.in R.N.I.No.33715/80.Postal Registration No. TN/CC (S) Dn/203/018-20 licenced to post without prepayment under WPP licence No. TN/PMG(CCR)/WPP-615/2018-2020

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RIND AugustSurvey 2020 | Volume 41 | Issue 06 | Rs 50 www.pressinstitute.in A Journal of the Press Institute of India - Research Institute for Newspaper Development Assistant Manager & Editorial Coordinator R. Suseela [email protected]

AN APP MAKES REMOTE MAINTENANCE FAR EASIER Visual PressSupport is an app-based live video streaming service that Koenig & Bauer now offers for sheetfed presses and other business units. In addition to audio transmission, it enables live videos to be transmitted directly from a mobile device to the hotline technician during remote maintenance. The success rate of Senior Manager - Finance classic remote maintenance methods currently used is 80 per cent. It is expected to grow further with Visual PressSupport, a cutting-edge tool that makes communication much easier. The hotline technician sees what the press operator or service technician sees on the press. He can be shown processes and procedures live via video. Also, the technician on site and the hotline technician can apply markings to the still images generated live. These markers help to carry out function checks or settings on the correct part or to record the current status separately close-up. In this way, it can help to limit malfunctions or be used to transfer operating & Administration and setting aids. In addition, the operator or technician at the press can share images from the album on their mobile device with the hotline. These can show certain press behaviour that only occurs sporadically and therefore cannot be picked up on live. Data security is guaranteed at the same time as the hotline technician can only see the media that has been shared and no other content.

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