FIRST CHANGE EVERYTHING
Producing video for the small screen HOW WE WANTED OUR NEWSROOMS TO WORK
VASANTHAVASANTHA ANGAMUTHU ANGAMUTHU | |INDEPENDENT INDEPENDENT MEDIA MEDIA SA | INMAMAY 2019 HOW OUR NEWSROOMS WORKED
VASANTHA ANGAMUTHU | INDEPENDENT MEDIA SA | INMA 2019 CONTENT
1. ABOUT US 2. FIRST CHANGE EVERYTHING a. STRATEGY b. STRUCTURE c. PERFORMANCE METRICS d. WORKFLOWS 3. OUR VIDEO PLAY: EXAMPLES 4. WHAT WE LEARNED
VASANTHAVASANTHA ANGAMUTHU ANGAMUTHU | |INDEPENDENT INDEPENDENT MEDIA MEDIA SA | INMAMAY 2019 ABOUT US WHERE WE WERE …
ABOUT US Powerful heritage newspapers Loyal print readers THE OPPORTUNITY One of SA’s largest newsrooms 1. Brand independent as a digital first, print Digital audience of 4.5M best experience Daily readership of 2 million 2. Meet readers where they are Weekend readership 1.5 million 3. Build content solutions for advertisers Vernacular & community papers 4. Tell stories in any format - text, images, readership 2.8 million video and graphics 5. Free newsrooms from the tyranny of print 6. Experiment, Test, Measure, Make Changes and do it all over again
VASANTHA ANGAMUTHU | INDEPENDENT MEDIA SA | INMA 2019 THE KEY CHALLENGES
1. CREAKY PRINT WORKFLOWS 2. DIGITAL GHETTO – SMALL SEPARATE DIGITAL TEAM 3. JOURNALISTS UNSURE OF DIGITAL, MOBILE AND VIDEO 4. EDITORS UNSURE OF THEIR PLACE IN A NEW WORLD SCRIPTED BY GOOGLE, FACEBOOK AND NEW MEDIA 5. REVENUE TAPS RUNNING DRY WHILE MASSIVE INVESTMENT NEEDED IN NEW TECH 6. LITTLE DATA AND SCIENCE DRIVING THE BUSINESS 7. NEW ‘ALIEN’ CONTENT FORMATS: VIDEO, AUDIO, SLIDESHOWS …
VASANTHA ANGAMUTHU | INDEPENDENT MEDIA SA | INMA 2019 WHAT WE NEEDED TO FIX
THE BUSINESS THE NEWSROOM THE TOOLS
1. Designed around print: 1. Resistant to new skills 1. IT infrastructure had not skills, workflows, 2. Resistance from editors to kept pace infrastructure and new workflows/structure 2. Years of under-investment objectives/KPAs 3. No cohesion by previous owners, from 2. Head in the sand about a. Separate digital/print storage to security shifts in the industry: b. Did not work across 3. Content Management • Growth of digital and geographies System could not handle social media c. Duplication of beats new digital workflows • Flight of readers to new 4. Non existent digital skills: 4. Journalists did not have platforms a. No understanding of SEO smart phones • The changed realities b. No video skills 5. Data was too expensive of media economics including the shift of c. No content produced for advertising spend to anything but newspapers digital and mobile d. Slow
VASANTHA ANGAMUTHU | INDEPENDENT MEDIA SA | INMA 2019 STRATEGY | STRUCTURE | PERFORMANCE METRICS | WORKFLOWS WHAT WE CHANGED FIRST CHANGE EVERYTHING
BAR STRATEGY Build the BRAND | Grow AUDIENCE | Grow REVENUE
NEW STRUCTURE National newsroom | Regional newsrooms | Production
FIRST PMS Editors Playbooks | New KPIs for journalists
WORKFLOWS Digital First, Print Best | Living Diaries | Live Diary | WhatsApp Groups
PRODUCT PORTFOLIO Modernise Print | Grow Digital | Build Video | Fast and Slow
LEARNING MOJO | Training Tuesdays | Internships | Bootcamps | Master Classes THE BAR STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK
BRAND AUDIENCE REVENUE
Custom Content Tech-led content company Improve Reader Experience Content Services Digital First, Print Best Augment Print Digital Campaigns An African media brand Reach readers where they are Programmatic Innovative & Experimental Deliver Video Events Media for Social Good Video
All editors report against BAR Resulted in our first Performance Management System with BAR metrics Knitted a large organisation of separate business entities behind a common strategic framework AND collective goals
VASANTHA ANGAMUTHU | INDEPENDENT MEDIA SA | INMA 2019 NEWSROOM STRUCTURE
1. New focus on digital 2. The creation of national Specialized Content Business Units in key content areas • Lifestyle • Politics • Business • Sport Title 3. A restructuring of teams that worked on the Live newsrooms newspaper titles - smaller, tighter teams with Newsroom x 17 a new focus on Metro journalism 4. Appointment of Live Editors (digital first editors) at the same level as Assignment National Editorial Newsrooms Editors who, together, formed the Live Production Newsroom and who co-ordinated the efforts X 4 of the newsrooms with respect to breaking news and video 5. Appointment of Content Producers 6. Journalists re-appointed as Multi Media Journalists
VASANTHA ANGAMUTHU | INDEPENDENT MEDIA SA | INMA 2019 PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
The group's first Performance Management System for Editorial including: 1. Brand Maps for each title that spoke to the Group’s strategic intent 2. Editor's Playbooks (annual plan) which set out print, digital and commercial KPAs and KPIs 3. Key Performance Indicators for all journalists that included measurable print and digital tasks Initially focused on delivery of digital first content 1. Publish to digital 2. Produce Video 3. Produce digital packages 4. Annual Skills Audit to measure success
VASANTHA ANGAMUTHU | INDEPENDENT MEDIA SA | INMA 2019 PRINT REDESIGN
1. Unify 14 regional brands behind Brand Independent with common design language 2. Spend less time on newspaper production 3. Modernise for a digital first consumer 4. Align to BAR - brand, audience, revenue 5. Make it easier for content and production teams to deliver newspapers in less time but with more and better content 6. Link print to digital via tools such as Augmented Reality to trigger video content 7. Introduction of card: News You Can Use; Digital First; Lists and Guides
VASANTHA ANGAMUTHU | INDEPENDENT MEDIA SA | INMA 2019 PRINT REDESIGN
— FOUNDED 1876, CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA [ WWW.IOL.CO.ZA ] TUESDAY, MAY 14 2019 —
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