The 21st World Newspaper Advertising Conference was recently held in Malta. From 24 - 25 February experts shared their knowledge and experience with over 200 delegates from around the world. It was organised by WAN-IFRA (World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers) and included topics such as the relevance of print advertising in a digital world, cross-media strategies and tablet advertising.
Speakers included Halvard Kristiansen, Head of behavioral targeting, Schibsted; Suzanne Raitt, VP Marketing and Innovation, Canadian Newspaper Association, Canada; Altug Acar, Deputy head of Advertising Group Head, Hürriyet, Turkey; Ken Doctor, news industry analyst and author of "Newsonomics: Twelve new trends that will shape the news you get", USA; and Dr. Aralynn McMane, Executive Director, Young Readership Development, WAN-IFRA, France.
One of the most heartening messages to come out of the conference was that newspaper advertising still has an important role to play in the overall advertising market. It seems that despite all the attention digital advertising gets newspaper advertising revenue remains promising. It's important, however, that newspaper companies don't overlook digital advertising. The most effective strategy is to embrace a multi-media approach.
One of the speakers, Anders Berglund, Sales Director of Swedish newspaper, Aftonbladet, said, "Most of the revenues are still connected to print products - you can still make a lot of money from print. It is important to have a focus on interesting new launches and new products, but also continue to develop the established products."
Offering a wide range of products will not only attract more readers but also more advertisers. In seven years, German newspaper, Die Zeit, has grown its circulation by 19% and advertising revenue by 81%. Dr Reiner Esser, Die Zeit's CEO, attributes the paper's success to an expansion strategy which saw them include a special section for students and school children, as well as family travel.
Eamonn Byrne, Founder and Director, The Byrne Partnership in the UK, said that it's important for newspapers and advertisers to distinguish between fashion and trends. The implication being that currently digital advertising is in fashion but newspaper advertising is and will continue to be a successful trend. Byrne goes so far as to say that print will dominate the future of advertising as more people consistently read newspapers than news online.
One possible reason that digital advertising gets so much press is because it's being driven by a small but very vocal group of people. It's because they are so loud that they get a lot of attention, which gives the impression that only news that makes it online matters. But the truth of the matter is that print drives most of the news and content online.
It's up to newspaper companies to ensure that they stay relevant and keep breaking news so that they keep attracting advertisers. At the same time they should look to expand into other avenues to stay relevant to all generations of readers.
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