100 101 CASE ,

EDUARDO TESSLER Consultant, Innovation Media Consulting [email protected] How digital transformation will change a 90-year old newspaper

Brazil’s biggest media company faced a three-pronged business challenge and began to change things immediately.

n today’s media market, after the digital and he had one obsession on his mind: change. revolution, if you are slow, or stand still, Frederic Kachar understood nothing would be you will not last very long. You will die, more foolish than to wait around for miracles even if you are the most important brand and for money to just reappear. He was in your area and leader. Praying for results absolutely right. Iis not an answer. !e world and the audience have changed. He found three pillars to the crisis: the business model, the way the audience was Grupo Globo is the biggest media company in informed and—worst of all— Brazil’s economic Brazil. !e conglomerate owns eight companies situation. !e business model was based on that do TV, radio, Internet and magazines. When ad revenue. Classified and other ads provided certain key business figures began to fall in 2013, more than 60% of revenues. Readers were not warning lights started to flash and, over the willing to pay for content, so a breaking news following 12 months, Infoglobo’s newspapers model was out. A business based on declining recorded falls in circulation. In 2015, the ad revenues and falling circulation posed a company appointed a new CEO at Infoglobo serious challenge for O Globo, which has a

INNOVATION IN NEWS MEDIA 2017 90-year record as Rio de Janeiro’s newspaper. have to offer a very unique and different digital five more when you registered, since 2015, but up with new ideas, discuss them with section Kachar—or Fred, as all the staff usually call him— product for all of the offer of free content we find the subscription rate after hitting the wall was staff and try to turn them into digital narratives. began to drive change immediately. In just a on the web”. No one in the newsrooms believed too low, leading to revenue problems. "ey Immediately after the morning meeting, they year, he replaced almost all of the directors on they could work together, because of each had a conversion problem. A new strategy by sit down with designers, developers, the super the board and tried to bring in fresh blood and brand’s distinct DNA. "e solution was based on itself is not enough if you don`t have the right desk and audience staff to brainstorm content new ideas. A new headquarters building was three principles: a new workflow, a new core- professionals in the right positions to execute it. ideas for the five new reader-oriented content being completed, a legacy of the former CEO. O periphery production system, and a super desk. A historical shift towards monomedia journalism deadlines. Globo (a traditional quality newspaper), (a "e new workflow was a 24/7 operation guided requires young, connected, modern, open-mind popular local paper), Expresso (a very popular by five prime-time slots ( 8 a.m., 11 a.m., 2 p.m., journalists to lead. “Our goal is to use intelligence, "e super desk is the command center, hyperlocal read) and the rest of the Infoglobo 5 p.m. and 9 p.m) for publishing high-quality technology, all kinds of data to offer the audience constantly pushing editors and reporters. staff would work together in the same place. content throughout the day, to generate reader the best quality content we can produce”, said "ey must think digital, produce for multiple habits and fidelity; fully integrated multimedia Alan Gripp, managing editor and super desk platforms and not forget paper, which is the Kachar wanted everyone at the new address, editors and reporters produced content centrally leader (he was previously politics editor at O last stop in the daily cycle. As multi-platform which would represent a new era of integration, and distributed it through a set of media brands Globo): “"e right content at the right time, in content sections are developing multimedia by the end of 2016. "e newsroom was the on to the different platforms; and six senior order to make our readers almost partners in stories, a group of paper copy desks transforms last thing to be moved over, in January 2017. journalists—who understood how it all fitted the business. We have all the conditions to win the most relevant stories, along with some "ere would no longer be be three different together—sat at the new super desk in the very this battle”. exclusive news, for the next day’s print editions newsrooms, offline and online production heart of the newsroom to oversee the production of O Globo, Extra and Expresso. "e super desk staff, and a divided company working towards cycles and coach editors and reporters. To Gripp is an enthusiastic journalist. He knows is the key to providing good content for both separate objectives. Journalists, sales and ensure brands DNA, Infoglobo decided to keep a good digital operation is much more than digital and print. marketing staff and audience analysts would all two editors-in-chief: one for O Globo, one for breaking news. He pushes Infoglobo columnists work together—both physically and in terms of the popular papers. to write short, fast analysis whenever a big story A glass studio website, launched in March, effort—to serve readers and ensure the financial happens, and he believes in new digital products is growing strongly. A glass studio inside the health of the company. "e O Globo website had used a metered as a way of getting closer to the audience. newsroom is the tool for improving videos paywall, that offered five articles for free and across all sections. Data and Analytics are used “"e new building could not be only a change In March, Infoglobo launched some new for all editorial and strategic decisions; trial and of address”, Kachar said. He realised it wouldn’t newsletters, video programmes and podcasts, as error using data to match things up. "e main be easy. O Globo newsroom was still quite paper- IN MARCH, INFOGLOBO well as a new mobile website. Audience figures question is no longer “what will go online?” but centric, despite some digital effort. "e workflow went up and new products were planned. "e “what will go in the paper?”. Digital is where had been built for a paper edition at the end of LAUNCHED SOME NEW strategy is to increase the size of the heavy users things start and paper is now just another each day, not for constant deliveries during the NEWSLETTERS, VIDEO group. Most of the audience only visits Globo. content channel. day. "e quality of O Globo’s editorial staff gave PROGRAMMES AND com once or twice a month, so the battle is to him hope, though. "ey wanted the same high turn occasional visitors into heavy users. All Everyone is committed to growing digital. quality from the print edition to move straight PODCASTS. AUDIENCE efforts are directed towards that goal. "ey know change is the only way forward, but to the digital journey. FIGURES WENT UP AND cultural change was hard. For years, journalists "e first meeting is at 7:30 a.m.. Before the understood their job was done when the article “Life is digital, our consumers are 24/7”, he NEW PRODUCTS WERE changes, most editors were not at work at that was written. Now they have to think digital and said: “People cannot wait for the daily paper. We PLANNED time of the morning. Now they have to come work digital. X

INNOVATION IN NEWS MEDIA 2017 INNOVATION IN NEWS MEDIA 2017