Revenue

(Ini laporan yang menarik tentang pengalaman Le Figaro, tentang bagaimana akhirnya wartawan print dengan wartawan online bisa bersatu, berintegrasi ... dan akhirnya menghasilkan )

Le Figaro: 20% of Revenues from Online by 2010

Posted on June 4, 2008 by Laura Oliver

Le Figaro is predicting that 20% of its revenue will be generated by its online operations by 2010.

But the French newspaper has plans to beat this, Pierre Conte, deputy managing director for new media and advertising for Le Figaro Group, told delegates at the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) conference today.

After rising from 2 million unique users to its websites to 8 million in two years, the group’s web traffic now accounts for 1 French internet user out of every four.

Last year its online revenues accounted for 13% of its total income – so how will the publisher build on this?

Gradual integration
Online success will only be achieved if all the group’s editorial teams want to take part, Francis Morel, managing director, said.

As such Le Figaro adopted an ‘invite not assign’ policy, giving journalists the opportunity to do work for the websites if they wished (though initially for no extra pay).

According to Morel merging editorial teams for print and online was seen as essential, despite concerns raised by the unions.

Journalists became increasingly enthusiastic about working for the websites and now both editorial teams are on the same floor under the same editorial head, though Morel insists this has been about building bridges and not enforced integration.

Advertising
The group has sought to recoup floundering revenues from print classifieds by making a concerted push with this advertising online, setting up a team to find advertisers for online-only.

Contextual and behavioural advertising is also being experimented with.

E-commerce and diversification
Building around the flagship portal of Le Figaro, the publisher has launched specialist sport, finance and lifestyle websites, in addition to acquiring several e-commerce sites.

Content has also been syndicated to other websites, though this is not a long-term business model, Conte says.

“This business [selling content to other websites] will continue to be weak and limited. We need to work on ad revenue. We are not reinventing anything by saying that, but we need to integrate our sales house.”

Content
News remains a priority online for all the group’s content-based websites. On the Le Figaro site a commenting function has been added to articles and submissions from users are welcomed.

Le Figaro has also set up its own TV studio to produce video clips for online and mobile.

As a word of warning, Morel stresses that the digital developments in these areas have not been at the expense of the print product.

“It is indispensable to continue to invest and focus on print, because while the internet is a key territory, it will not replace print.

“We need to be extremely cautious and prudent. The internet is a very volatile market. We need to be very flexible at any time to change our course because we do not know what tomorrow holds.”

Masa depan koran

(Laporan berikut ini adalah bagian dari wacana lama yang berkembang dari pertemuan ke pertemuan pimpinan media massa internasional. Tapi tetap saja laporan seperti ini masih diupload, sekedar untuk mengingatkan kembali betapa penting inovasi yang harus dilakukan surat kabar. Apalagi, Internet sudah hadir di hadapan kita. Yang menarik, kita disadarkan untuk mulai berpikir "kita punya website yang kebetulan punya koran, bukan sebaliknya, kita punya koran yang juga punya website." Menarik bukan?)


Experts: Innovation key to newspapers' survival
By DOUG MELLGREN

GOTEBORG, Sweden - Good journalism, innovation and reader interaction are key to the survival of newspaper companies in the new media world of cyberspace, said experts at the World Newspaper Congress on Wednesday.
"Our industry survives by producing good journalism," said Juan Antonio Giner, a founding partner in the Innovation International Media Consulting group, which presented its 10th annual report on innovation in newspapers to the meeting.
"I'm not worried about the future. I'm worried about the present," he told delegates, noting the slowness of some newspapers to adopt to change. However, he also warned about rushing into new designs and formats, citing examples of what he called "crimes against journalism."
"I am very worried about the future of journalism ... that is the soul of the industry," he said, adding that "great stories" remain newspapers' strongest assets, whether print or digital.
The 80-page report said newspapers must adapt to the new media of Internet, mobile phones and other wireless devices and communicate with readers immediately if they hope to survive. A second report, called "Trends in the Newsroom 2008," was presented separately and reached many of the same conclusions.
"Innovate or die," said Juan Senor, also of Innovation. "We must stop thinking of ourselves as wonderful newspapers that happen to have Web sites. We must start thinking that we are beautiful Web sites that happen to have wonderful newspapers."
During his talk, Giner presented examples of newspapers that he said were so caught up in their new designs that they overlooked basic journalism. In one example, he showed the newly redesigned front page of a newspaper that cut out the key element of a photo to make it fit the space allotted.
Try wild ideas
His advice to newspapers struggling to survive includes: try wild ideas, be different, shake things up, make readers smile, be local, integrate print and digital, hire talent, produce great stories, nurture good journalism and have good business management.
Senor said the first step is for editors and reporters to change their way of thinking to include print, Internet editions, mobile phone updates, and related television and radio services.
He said adapting means integrating traditional print reporting with new media, such as by having a multimedia editor in charge rather than one for print and another for digital.
With readers expecting to be heard, through blogs or e-mails, newspapers have to listen. One way to do so, he said, is by setting up a community desk that readers can exchange information with.
The three-day congress, ending Wednesday, brought together about 1,800 members of the World Association of Newspapers. They met in the Swedish city of Goteborg.