WASHINGTON — The future — as well as the current — direction of individualized news came under the microscope last week as proponents gathered at The Washington Times to discuss the concept at the third annual Individuated News Conference.
The meeting, backed by MediaNews Group and The Times, examined ventures already under way, but also took a close look at the potential challenges faced by media organizations as they evaluate the delivery of hyper-customized news and information.
“It’s the media franchise of the future,” said Peter Vandevanter, MNG’s vice president of targeted products.
Vandevanter highlighted the contrast between last year’s conference, which was largely based on concepts, and this year’s meeting, which boasted five individuated products in the marketplace.
Among those products: MNG’s I-News; The Washington Times’ customized newsweekly; the Knight Foundation’s Printcasting; PersonalNews in Switzerland and Time Inc.’s mine magazine.
“By the end of [last year’s conference] we were debating whether the first individuated news products would be printed on a digital press, or on a home printer — and as I remember it, the group was divided about 50-50,” Vandevanter said. “This year we start with actual products to show and discuss — real market-tested products. And two of them are printed on toner-based digital presses, one on an inkjet press and one on a home printer. So we were all right last year.”
There are no “wrong answers” when it comes to individuated newspapers, Vandevanter said, because products can inhabit any platform, including e-readers, PDAs and PCs.
“Individuated news is platform-agnostic, let’s be clear about that,” he said. “As long as the platform is digital.”
The INC was co-sponsored by Acrisoft, Océ and News & Tech.
Visit http://www.newsandtech.com/NewsonDemand0709.pdf to see our special supplement covering the event. The supplement, News On Demand, will also be included in the July issue of News & Tech.
Monday, June 29, 2009
MediaNews first group to partner with Printcasting
WASHINGTON – Printcasting said its publishing software platform will be used by MediaNews Group to support the creation of niche products. MNG is the first publishing group to agree to use Printcasting’s platform, which was initially launched earlier this year at The Bakersfield Californian.
In addition, Printcasting said it established new city Web sites, in MNG markets Denver, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area and Boulder, Colo., to enable residents to create their own Printcasting publications.
Meantime, Printcasting founder Dan Pacheco said the initiative is also ready to roll out a mobile version of its publishing platform. Finally, Pacheco outlined a 60/30/10 revenue-sharing model in which a Printcasting publisher would keep 60 percent of ad revenues collected from companies marketing their services through niche publications. Content providers would receive 30 percent while Printcasting would collect the remainder.
The Knight Foundation-backed Printcasting allows anyone to be a publisher by tying online content to templates that can be printed or viewed on the Web and mobile devices.
In addition, Printcasting said it established new city Web sites, in MNG markets Denver, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area and Boulder, Colo., to enable residents to create their own Printcasting publications.
Meantime, Printcasting founder Dan Pacheco said the initiative is also ready to roll out a mobile version of its publishing platform. Finally, Pacheco outlined a 60/30/10 revenue-sharing model in which a Printcasting publisher would keep 60 percent of ad revenues collected from companies marketing their services through niche publications. Content providers would receive 30 percent while Printcasting would collect the remainder.
The Knight Foundation-backed Printcasting allows anyone to be a publisher by tying online content to templates that can be printed or viewed on the Web and mobile devices.
Washington Times to launch national print edition
WASHINGTON – The Washington Times said it will launch a national edition this fall.
Executive Editor John Solomon said the paper is currently evaluating print sites, but said the national edition would likely run about 36 pages Monday through Friday.
Solomon said that he expects The Times will be able to compete successfully against other national papers such as USA Today and The New York Times because of The Times’ Washington perspective.
More details about The Times plans will be disclosed within the next few weeks, Solomon told News & Tech.
Executive Editor John Solomon said the paper is currently evaluating print sites, but said the national edition would likely run about 36 pages Monday through Friday.
Solomon said that he expects The Times will be able to compete successfully against other national papers such as USA Today and The New York Times because of The Times’ Washington perspective.
More details about The Times plans will be disclosed within the next few weeks, Solomon told News & Tech.
WAN, Ifra to merge operations
As News & Tech reported in Dateline June 8, Ifra and the World Association of Newspapers have agreed to merge into a single organization, effective July 1.
The new group, called the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-Ifra) will represent more than 18,000 publications, 15,000 Web sites and more than 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries.
The merged organization said it will retain current headquarters in Paris and Darmstadt, Germany, and WAN CEO Timothy Balding and Ifra CEO Reiner Mittelbach will retain their current positions through 2009. A permanent CEO will be hired next year.
WAN President Gavin O’Reilly, Group CEO of Dublin-based Independent News and Media, will serve as president of the new organization through 2010. He’ll be succeeded by Horst Pirker, president of Ifra and CEO of Styria Medien AG in Austria.
The new group, called the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-Ifra) will represent more than 18,000 publications, 15,000 Web sites and more than 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries.
The merged organization said it will retain current headquarters in Paris and Darmstadt, Germany, and WAN CEO Timothy Balding and Ifra CEO Reiner Mittelbach will retain their current positions through 2009. A permanent CEO will be hired next year.
WAN President Gavin O’Reilly, Group CEO of Dublin-based Independent News and Media, will serve as president of the new organization through 2010. He’ll be succeeded by Horst Pirker, president of Ifra and CEO of Styria Medien AG in Austria.
N&O launches self-serve obits
The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., launched self-service advertising for obituaries using Wave2's iPublish AdPortal.
The site allows funeral home directors to build their own obits anytime, using a credit card or account billing.
"The reception to self-service by the funeral directors was immediate,” said Gary Smith, vice president of classified advertising at The N&O. “We're now looking at other ad types like template-based real estate or retail ads, as well as self-service retail applications we can run on the same iPublish AdPortal system."
The N&O expects the system to pay for itself in the first year through production and makegood savings, Wave2 said.
Look for more information about how publishers are leveraging self-service advertising in the July issue of News & Tech.
The site allows funeral home directors to build their own obits anytime, using a credit card or account billing.
"The reception to self-service by the funeral directors was immediate,” said Gary Smith, vice president of classified advertising at The N&O. “We're now looking at other ad types like template-based real estate or retail ads, as well as self-service retail applications we can run on the same iPublish AdPortal system."
The N&O expects the system to pay for itself in the first year through production and makegood savings, Wave2 said.
Look for more information about how publishers are leveraging self-service advertising in the July issue of News & Tech.
4 newspaper groups tap Verve
Verve Wireless announced partnerships with MediaNews Group, A.H. Belo Corp. Hearst Corp., and Cox Newspapers to allow them to send their news and information to mobile users.
The pact will let readers of such properties as The Denver Post, The Dallas Morning News, Palm Beach (Fla.) Post and Seattle Post-Intelligencer receive news on their phones, Verve said.
Verve also rolled out a platform enhancement that automatically creates a version of the publisher’s site for the new Safari browser on Apple iPhones, as well as provides mobile video delivery support across the other smart phone devices.
The iPhone module incorporates elements from the Associated Press’ Mobile News Network iPhone app.
The pact will let readers of such properties as The Denver Post, The Dallas Morning News, Palm Beach (Fla.) Post and Seattle Post-Intelligencer receive news on their phones, Verve said.
Verve also rolled out a platform enhancement that automatically creates a version of the publisher’s site for the new Safari browser on Apple iPhones, as well as provides mobile video delivery support across the other smart phone devices.
The iPhone module incorporates elements from the Associated Press’ Mobile News Network iPhone app.
MinnPost.com launches new ad feature
Online news site MinnPost.com beefed up its advertising operations by launching Real-Time Ads, a service that lets advertisers update their ad messages with content from other sites such as Twitter.
“Very simply, our goal is to create a fast-paced marketplace, full of advertisers’ messages that are newly posted and thus up-to-date, so that readers will want to keep coming back to check out what’s happening,” said Joel Kramer, editor and CEO of MinnPost.com.
“Very simply, our goal is to create a fast-paced marketplace, full of advertisers’ messages that are newly posted and thus up-to-date, so that readers will want to keep coming back to check out what’s happening,” said Joel Kramer, editor and CEO of MinnPost.com.
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