News Release

28 March 2006

GREENSLADE ON MULTI-PLATFORM PUBLISHING: “PREACH THE REACH”

Describing himself as a revolutionary realist, media commentator Roy Greenslade heralded the age of multi-media journalism at the Newspaper Society’s Circulation, Editorial and Promotions Conference yesterday, and described it as the “only game in town”.

He said: “One product is no longer enough... We have to offer a range of platforms… to catch the audience’s attention. And, to be honest, that means offering what works – a free issue here, a podcast there, a website here, a mobile phone alert there.”

He identified the newspaper brand as the central hub of product portfolios, saying: “For years I refused to call a newspaper a product or a brand. But I've given in now. In truth, there's no better way to describe a newspaper title than a brand.

“In localities and regions across Britain, districts, towns and cities are served by papers and everyone in that particular area knows about the brand, even if they don't buy them or read them. Therefore, the title itself is a fantastically valuable asset. It is a brand, and to take that further, what we need to be engaged in is brand development, brand innovation. We need to use our unique relationship with our audiences to lock them into the multi-platform offerings built around the newspaper brand. In the end, it doesn't really matter if the paper itself has a smaller audience than our websites or, in the long run, other digitally-transmitted information. The key is the brand name and to be used.”

He praised the regional press industry’s commitment to multi-media portfolios, saying “Your adoption of a multi-platform or multi-portfolio approach is paying dividends. Through a mix of paid-for paper, free paper, website, podcasts, mobile phones, and digital TV in some cases, you are achieving high levels of penetration among your local audiences.”

He called on the media industry to update its audience measurement system, encouraging publishers to “preach the reach”. He said: “We need to find a way of showing the world what our multi-platform media companies are achieving in terms of reaching audiences.”

He highlighted the work of the Newspaper Society saying: “As you all probably know, the Newspaper Society has set up a portfolio audience group which is trying to establish how to measure readership and viewership of these platforms. That is one of, if not the most, important initiatives.

“Nearly every owner and chief executive I speak to tells me about the reach. Many are claiming that their print-web combination is reaching more than 75% of the local population, sometimes more. They know because they have installed software to show how many clicks their websites are getting. They can reveal the numbers of unique users to their websites. Of course, they also know how many papers they sell and can verify how many frees they’re distributing. What they need to do is to find a way of aggregating all this in order to telling their story to advertisers and investors.”

Multi-platform portfolios were evident throughout the day, as delegates were presented with examples of websites and blogging, Lite editions, podcasts and SMS alerts, all supporting the main newspaper brand.

Paul Horrocks, editor of the Manchester Evening News said: “We’re now in the middle of a 24/7 revolution and it’s one in which the consumer calls all the shots. Our aim is to make the Manchester Evening News the widest read product in Manchester, through a wide range of products. We currently have over 30 products…The most effective thing is to give the consumer choice about when and where they receive their media.”

And this approach is working. Nick Turner, deputy editor of the Carlisle News and Star said: “Regional newspapers are being read by more people than every before….Our unique users online have gone up by 130%.”

Chris Pennock, newspaper sales and marketing director at Johnston PressPlc agreed, saying: “The time has come where we have to understand our audience and our reach. In those markets where we’ve looked at it closely, or audience and reach are bigger than they’ve ever been.”

Chaired by Howard Scott, managing director of Newsquest Southern, the conference took place on Monday 27 March at the Midland hotel in Manchester. Other speakers included:

Matt Harrison, newspaper sales director, regional newspapers at Trinity Mirror, on using FMCG tactics to stimulate newspaper purchase
David Cooke, senior buying manager, news and magazines at Tesco UK, on Tesco’s regional press strategy
Martin Lindsay, editor of the Belfast Telegraph, and Bob Waterhouse, editor of the North West Enquirer, who took part in the editors’ panel chaired by media commentator Alison Hastings
Carolyn Mackinnon-Ure, deputy group circulation director of Northcliffe Newspapers Group, on demand planning and forecasting
Mark Challinor, European president of INMA Europe, who gave the closing address.

The conference was followed by the Circulation, Editorial and Promotions Awards.

An adaptation of Roy Greenslade’s speech was published in the Daily Telegraph today (Tuesday 28 March).

Read a blog of the conference, by the Guardian’s Stephen Brook.

Belfast Telegraph Named Regional Newspaper of the Year

For more information please contact Martha Dunlop on 020 7632 7424 or e-mail martha_dunlop@newspapersoc.org.uk.

The Newspaper Society, the voice of Britain's regional and local press, represents around 1,300 daily and weekly, paid-for and free, newspaper titles in the UK.

The Newspaper Society is a member of UK Publishing Media: a £18 billion alliance of newspapers, magazines and books, which collectively represent one of the largest investors in the rapidly-expanding information society.