RIND SurveyMay 2019 | Volume 40| Issue 5| Rs 50 www.pressinstitute.in A Journal of the Press Institute of India - Research Institute for Newspaper Development FUTURE-ORIENTED PRINT TECHNOLOGY GRABS ATTENTION China is one of the most important world markets for Koenig & Bauer. So, how do you woo potential customers? By convincing them with top-draw products and services. The Print China trade fair held in Guangdong in the second week of April helped Koenig & Bauer do just that (see page 28). Visitors do get excited about live print demonstrations. Here, in the picture, is one such demonstration on the Koenig & Bauer stand – on a largest sheetfed offset press, an eight-colour Rapida 106 with coater and extended delivery. Not surprisingly, by the end of the fair, contracts worth several tens of millions of euros had been signed with printing companies throughout China and from several other countries in South and Southeast Asia. Way to go… 1 FROM THE EDITOR Offering value for money, personalised services key to gaining reader loyalty hat could be the major trends shaping, break- Betts points out that FT focuses very hard on Wing and consolidating global media by 2021? building metrics and measurements which “help us Well, John McCarthy, previewing with The Drum to understand the loyalty that we are building with (a global media platform and the biggest marketing the customer; so we're talking about reader engage- website in Europe) its Global Media Report which ment, which doesn't mean just sharing stories, com- examines the next five years facing the industry, says menting, tweeting or liking – those are indicators the report indicates that over the past half decade, 90 that someone is engaged with your brand – but per cent of media spend growth has come from digi- what we look at is on a per reader basis the extent tal – and the focus on mobile platforms will grow to which people are building loyalty and habit and in the coming half a decade. Traditional media will their return rate to the website and if they are get- not share this growth generally but will see pockets ting value for their money”. So, how does your app of performance and resilience, he adds. perform or how does Facebook perform or Twit- According to McCarthy, by 2021, pay TV will ter perform? “We don't think about those things in generate $299 billion and exhibit 3 per cent growth, isolation. We want to see them as part of a broader with video games up 12 per cent to $179 billion. picture of your media consumption so that we Over-the-top will reach $53 billion (+20 per cent) can understand where we need dial up or down cinema $49 billion (+6 per cent) and physical home our investments.” The thing that is fundamentally video down to $10 billion (-13 per cent). Global important is “direct relationship with the reader”, advertising revenues will exhibit growth. By 2021, Betts is certain. digital advertising will be the largest segment attract- Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, director, Reuters Institute ing $339 billion (+12 per cent), then TV advertising for the Study of Journalism, after launching Reu- at $209 billion (2 per cent), then OOH at $38 bil- ters Institute’s ‘India digital news report’, based on lion (3 per cent) and then video game advertising at data from a survey of 1013 English-speaking, online $6 billion (+13 per cent). news users in India, had this to say: “There is a very, The study reveals that consumers love the value very large and painful structural adjustment coming proposition, the selection, the personalisation and up for the businesses of news in India… in just five the pricing of subscription services, compared years between 2012 and 2016, advertising revenue of to buying physical media or paying TV packages. Chinese newspapers fell by 75 per cent without an Access is continually trumping ownership: music economic crisis and it is not impossible to imagine streaming accounted for almost half of music spend something of that scale happening in this country.” in 2017 and will reach 80 per cent by 2022. Music Highlighting some of the key findings of the report, and video streaming subscriptions will grow faster Nielsen said that India has become a ‘mobile-first’ than 10 per cent per annum, the study shows. market faster than any other country, with 68 per All this sort of syncs with what Tom Betts, chief cent of respondents identifying the smartphone as data officer for the Financial Times has to say (see their main device for online news while 31 per cent page 11 for full interview). Advertising, as a source use only mobile devices to access online news. of revenue, introduces volatility into the business, he says. Reader revenue brings more sustainabil- Sashi Nair ity, which makes the newspaper business predict- [email protected] able and allows investment in user experience and things that matter to the reader. FT does not focus on only advertising or only subscription. The trick is to strike the right balance and blend the two, Betts says. May 2019 RIND Survey 3 RIND Survey May 2019 | Volume 40 | Issue 5 Focus on innovation, productivity at technical seminar 6 Susan Philip reports on a RIND programme Aligning data strategy with business goals 10 FT’s Tom Betts and Digital Content Next’s Jason Kint in conversation / Neha Gupta In the land of Manorama and Mathrubhumi 14 Mrinal Chatterjee about the history of Malayalam journalism Industry Updates 20 General News 36 Events Calendar 41 Cover page image: Courtesy, Koenig & Bauer C o n t e s 4 RIND Survey May 2019 Innovation, productivity the focus at technical seminar The Press Institute of India – Research Institute for Newspaper Development (PII-RIND) recently organised a seminar on Productive and Innovative Approach to Newspaper Production at PII-RIND in Chennai. Stalwarts from the production side of the newspaper industry addressed participants. The daylong seminar had two sessions. Susan Philip provides an overview rocess and product innovation for newspaper 55 width, and the different technologies in relation production, improving productivity, to machine speed, inks, washes and the like. Also, Pextending the life of the press by condition newsprint is now mostly recycled, he pointed out. monitoring, new technology in news ink, and Barcodes brought about accountability in news- ink mileage were the subjects discussed at the print booking, and allows for part reel accounting, seminar on Productive and Innovative Approach and making tracking of reels easy. The truck load- to Newspaper Production organised by RIND. ing system was another innovation which reduced surface damage, he said, explaining that it prevents Innovation supplies going missing. The ToI’s Rupee One pric- The newspaper industry in general has been wit- ing was an innovative business model, he added. nessing an innovative approach of late. The Times Referring to the process of Innovation, Felix of India is a pioneer of innovation in the Indian outlined the steps as: Preparation – Generation – newspaper industry, said Julian Felix, plant head, Incubation – Evaluation. “Planning is important. ToI. Elaborating on the topic of process innovation We creatively collaborate to develop ideas, imple- and product innovation for newspaper produc- ment them, evaluate success and improvise if suc- tion, he discussed the motivation for innovation, cess hasn’t been achieved.” and the different forms that it has taken. To a question, he said ToI has a separate team “Innovations are both growth- and improvement- for innovation which coordinates with the mar- driven. They are used by newspaper houses to tar- keting team. The feasibility of demands is evalu- get the advertiser and the reader as they make the ated, brainstorming is carried out, and product or product stand out. Advertisers are satisfied as they process innovation is achieved. attract more attention, and reader interest is titil- lated. Innovation is also important as it attracts Productivity the best talent in the industry,” Felix said. ‘Productivity – how to sustain and maximise’ was The first product innovation ToI brought in was the focus of the presentation by V.S. Narayanan, the gluing of the flap, according to Felix. ‘French general manager – Technical, Dinamalar. Sharing windows’ were another innovation. Citing other his expertise on improving productivity in news- examples from the ToI’s portfolio, he said the paper production, he said, “Correspondents and NIE (News in Education) initiative gave the paper photographers put their life on the line to bring a competitive edge. news from the spot. We at production must be Talking of process innovation, Felix discussed aware that if we make a mess of things, everyone’s the elimination of the film, the change from 64 to efforts will be wasted.” 6 RIND Survey May 2019 is never done, but it must be made a habit. If blankets are preserved carefully, it’s possible to reuse them during an emergency. They’re too expensive to be thrown away. • It is vital to store pigments, oil, etc correctly. Monitor every aspect carefully, including diaphragms and pistons, to prevent ink wastage. Use available machines to measure ink consumption, so that cost per-page can be estimated. There’s an in-house system to measure ink fed to a specific column which is cost-effective and cost-saving. • Made-in-India equipment like the Smartline machines from Manugraph are of international standards, Narayanan said. It makes good economic sense to use them instead of the more expensive imported ones. • Save energy by avoiding joints and T-bars in water and ink lines. The energy saving will be huge. Photos: NS/PII-RIND • Water maintaining is crucial. Formula differs Clockwise from top left: Julian Felix, V.S.