World Association of News Publishers


Asian NewsMedia Focus

Asian NewsMedia Focus

25 years of reporting the news publishing business in Asia.

In the Blogs

Snehasis Roy, Technical Director of India’s Times Group, recently joined us for a WAN-IFRA Webinar to discuss how the publishing house has been affected by COVID-19 and the measures they are undertaking to try to cope with the crisis.

In this op-ed, Varghese Chandy, Vice President (Marketing, Advertising Sales) at Malayala Manorama, strikes an optimistic note about how the Indian state Kerala, worst-hit by...

Both Facebook and news organisations such as the BBC are acting rapidly to meet the mushrooming demand in India for various types of video content.

Although the World Health Organisation has declared that newspapers are safe to touch during the COVID-19 pandemic, one Sri Lankan publisher apparently took their precautions a step further to ensure readers of the safety of their newspapers.

The Hindu Group (THG), a 141-year-old brand, was the first English-language Indian newspaper to go digital in 1995. Armed with a critical mass of online readers and a user-friendly online payment infrastructure, the company implemented a soft paywall in February 2019, and a metered...

Despite rumours of printed newspapers being a carrier of COVID-19, the World Health Organisation (WHO) recently confirmed that newspapers are safe to read during the pandemic.

Like many other countries around the world, India is now under lockdown due to COVID-19. Typically a strong newspaper market, we wanted to talk to publishers there to gauge how their business is faring during this challenging time. From all indications, "challenging" is putting it mildly....

As COVID-19 cases ramp up in India, newsrooms have swung into action to keep journalists safe, while ensuring a steady flow of content.

The COVID-19 pandemic is set to be a long, draining crisis, requiring resilience from newsrooms and editors. Here, Straits Times’ Editor-in-Chief and World Editors Forum President, Warren Fernandez, shares how the newsroom is operating amid the outbreak, and how the experience with previous...

From food to technology to hard news, India's NDTV HOP Live, a mobile-only, vertical viewing platform focussed on creating sharable, interactive and on-the-go-video content for millennials produces 30-35 hours of fresh video content every week.

At the recent Digital Media India conference, Rohan Tiwary of Google Asia Pacific, offered updates on some of the company's ongoing efforts through their Google News Initiative, including training journalists and AMP, and also highlighted some of their data and subscription...

India's ManoramaOnline, the digital arm of Malayala Manorama, delivers news from Kerala to more than 30 million Malayalis every month.

In 2013, three IIT students, Deepit Purkayastha, Azhar Iqubal and Anunay Pandey, launched an application called Inshorts, a pioneer in short form content. Today, it is one of India’s biggest digital...

“Technology transformation is not a problem for just legacy companies, but for digital companies, too,” Ajay Shrivastava, Group Chief Product Technology Officer and Business Initiatives Officer at HT Media, told participants at...

“Newsrooms that don’t embrace change are going to be left behind,” Brett McKeehan, Director – Asia, CNN Digital Worldwide, Hong Kong, said at the recently concluded ...

The decade that has just begun will be the one when newsrooms reclaim their future believes Warren Fernandez, Editor in Chief of The Straits Times and President of the World Editors Forum. He explains why in this guest post.

Ten news publishers across Asia will be able to speed up the transformation of their newsrooms to ensure they are both audience-centred, and sustainable, thanks to a new partnership between WAN-IFRA and Facebook.

Investment to transform tech, content and focus at the South China...

Three industry players discussed the promise and perils of the current state of digital advertising at a panel at the Digital Media Asia 2019 conference in Hong Kong.

 

As reader habits have changed in Asia and elsewhere, the importance of print media as a source of news has declined in recent years. There is a need for news publishers to adapt to a new business model to sustain the...

“The print media industry in India needs to reinvent the way we approach and onboard new readers,” said Pawan Agarwal, Deputy MD & CEO, DB Corp, India.

Publishers gathered in Gurugram, Haryana last week to discuss ways to deliver excellence and drive revenue in challenging business times.

“My biggest crime is to have dared to be a journalist and a woman,” said Kavita Devi, who was married off when she was 12 years old. 

“If you are too protective of your print, your digital will never grow,” said Geoff Tan, Managing Director, market development, SPH Magazines.

“There’s a popular perception being created that newspapers are dying, but national brands are still being created on printed newspapers,” said Varghese Chandy, Vice President of Marketing and Ad Sales, Malayala Manorama Co. Ltd.

It could be only a matter of time before robo-journalism makes its inroads to India

India's leading publishing house, Jagran Prakashan Ltd., has enjoyed a rich history in print – and increasingly digital – since 1975. The brand publishes 12 print titles in five languages, across 15 states. The company's print and digital properties boast ownership of Dainik...

First-quarter financial year 2020 results for India's HT Media group showed a surge in revenues and profits, offering respite after a few quarters of sluggish growth. Nonetheless, the decline on the digital front seemed to continue.

Financial year 2020 first quarter results of India’s leading media group DB Corp showed declines in revenues and profits, possibly reflecting the market, which has yet to recover from ongoing turbulence.

The group's FY'19 full year results give hints of a rough market. 

“If it works for us, it could work for any news organisation,” said Savan Wijewardene of Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (ANCL)’s success in developing events.

The multifaceted ability of data to not only make stories engaging and personalised but also credible, drove discussion at a session during WAN-IFRA's recent Publish Asia 2019 conference.
...

Many publishers struggle with deciding on the correct subscription price for their products as they try to determine what goes into product value and what types of price bundles they should use.

Famed journalist Hu Shuli told attendees at WAN-IFRA's recent Publish Asia 2019 conference in Singapore they should always preserve and protect their core function of high-quality and hard-hitting journalism, no matter what business challenges they face.

Editors from 15 news organisations around Asia have come together to set up a new Asia Chapter of the World Editors Forum, a grouping of editors under the auspices of World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).

“Exclusivity is the single largest driver of subscriptions. If you are offering something that no one else has, it’s easier to convince someone to pay you for it,” says Rohin Dharmakumar, co-founder and CEO of The Ken.

Print media continues to witness slow down, but digital sees steady growth

The future of Indian news media is mobile-first and platform-dominated, with 9% "very likely" to pay for news, according to a new report from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ).

In the news media business, digital revenue is a tough nut to crack. A panel at the Digital Media India 2019 conference in Mumbai in February discussed the possibility of changing this...

India's Ananda Vikatan has a long and rich history in print, but the publication has also been very active online, and launched a digital subscription model fairly early on, which quickly proved itself successful. 

India became a breeding ground for the spread of fake news in May 2017, when seven men were lynched in Jharkhand following rumours of a gang kidnapping of children. The police said they had not registered a single case of kidnapping. The men were killed over a rumour.

Zenith has predicted a glowing 2019 for India's journalism industry: Print ad revenue is expected to grow by 5 percent in 2018 and by 20 percent next year. Digital ad revenue is also expected to increase by 20 percent.

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  • WAN-IFRA publishes the annual Technology Guide & Directory, featuring all of the latest technology trends, advice from experts, and a comprehensive directory of the industry's solution providers.
  • WAN-IFRA publications include up-to-the minute headlines of the latest industry news, the annual Technology Guide & Directory, and in-depth research reports compiled over the space of a year or more.
  • 24 years of reporting the news publishing business in Asia.
  • WAN-IFRA South Asia, headquartered in Chennai, started its operation in 2001 as a private limited company registered under the Indian Companies Act. But the origin of IFRA in India dates back to 1992 when the services of IFRA, with only an Annual Conference, were offered in this country through a representative office. From this modest beginning, it today stands as a separate company catering to the needs of the Indian news publishing industry.

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