Newspaper Chart-lets and Multi-media Factoids

Later next week (October 16th-17th), the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) Readership Conference in Amsterdam (click here for details) will discuss the future of newspaper readership. Editors and newspaper executives from across the world will present and debate case-studies on strategies for growing newspaper and print audiences across platforms – print and on-line

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WAN runs the “Shaping the Future of Newspapers (SFN)” project, which aims at helping newspapers with strategies to survive and thrive in a changing media environment. Appropriately, the theme of the Conference is “Newspapers can Increase Readership in Tough Times”.

One of the session titles that caught my attention was:

The New Newsroom: Broadcast, Print and Web – Newspapers, which are best at exploiting multi-media and competing effectively in the multi-media battle for audience and revenues;

Co-incidentally, only the other day I was watching the recorded web-cast of the Adobe CS (Creative Suite)-4 launch – where Adobe’s CEO Shantanu Narayen talks of precisely this seamless 2 way migration from print to web, mobile etc which is going to characterize the media universe in the days to come. CS-4 tries to integrate the creative process across all media platforms. (To check full video click here)

Another topical issue that would be discussed at the conference is how newspapers are working for attracting and retaining young readers of newspapers in a digital world – sometimes using Social Networking.

I have often wondered if in our frenzy of chasing circulation and eyeballs – we are forgetting the issue of newspaper readership. Thus while – ABC figures are showing a huge spurt in circulation across languages and regions – the growth in readership is nothing to write home about.

Therefore, it was interesting to read Raju Narisetti’s latest blog post (click here to read) on how his paper is using devices like “Charticles” to grab the typically short attention span of the “Internet generation that lives in the multimedia”. Though’ it might appear to be ‘not-so-subtle’ plug for the MINT (“I mean stuff like this that regular readers of Mint are used to seeing on a regular basis”) – but, we can excuse the ‘Romantic Realist’ for this minor self-indulgence - as this is probably what the future of newspapers “might and ought to be”.

I had touched upon this – in an earlier blog (2000 Monkeys or a 1 ton Gorilla click here) , which didn’t attract any comment. Considering the huge readership this blog commands (!!), I am not sure if the lack of response can be construed to mean – that, such issues are still not on the radar screen of Indian newspapers.