"The rapid and often disruptive development in the media industry has created big challenges for dpa. Our response has been constant innovation and even closer networking with our clients," said President & CEO Peter Kropsch. "In particular, this has meant the further development of our B2B content marketplace through our dpa-Connect strategy. Emphasis is also being put on the Performing Content programme. With this we are developing methods and services to make our content more helpful in gaining and keeping digital subscribers. We are keeping a close eye on the wind of change in our market and are taking a lot of inspiration from it," Kropsch added.
The core business, Deutsche-Presse-Agentur GmbH, has been able to maintain its revenues at a high level, reaching 93.6 million euros this year (2016: 94 million euros). This has resulted in a surplus of 1.2 million euros for 2017 (2016: 1.4 million euros). A large part of the circulation-related dip in the results was offset by the successful launch of a business solutions venture. dpa's subsidiaries and various divisions continue to play an important role in the innovations process and the further development of dpa services. The record results for dpa-infocom underline that dpa truly understands how to seize the digital future and create profitable business models.
With the purchase of the social media monitoring service Buzzrank, dpa has launched a totally new product in the market. The subsidiary news aktuell has also been very successful, offering services to the media sector and thereby making a positive contribution to the success of the dpa group as a whole.
"Solid, verifiable facts are more important than ever in the fight against manipulation, disinformation and errors in the world of news," said dpa Editor-in-Chief Sven Goesmann at today's meeting. "With our Profile-Process for improving our services, with the establishment of a verification team and a social media monitoring team, we are responding to the challenges of the media world. The goal is clear: we always want to be very fast with our journalism, but above all we want to be correct and comprehensible," Sven Goesmann added.
As a whole, dpa has strengthened and expanded its leading position in the market. The newly set-up international picture service has played a central role in providing an improved and locally sourced offering to editors. Together with 35 partner agencies, dpa has made available a picture service that is firmly orientated around the needs of clients.
When it comes to the critical areas of verification and social media, dpa has established new editorial structures in order to offer clients greater speed and confidence regarding information on social networks and other online sources. Experts among our editors can spot the first signs of a newsworthy event and make sure it is logged and checked, so that it can be reported on reliably without any loss of time.
At today's meeting, Goesmann was also highlighting the great importance of training at dpa, including the new system for trainees. This year, the focus is on four different roles: multimedia reporter, director, newsroom developer and product manager. The dpa Powerhaus initiative has proved its worth in this regard. The news agency now offers a comprehensive reporting service early in the morning and late in the evening.
In the current financial report, dpa stresses the theme of "Networking." This means not only a closer connection between the agency and its clients, but also networking between the different parts of the company and the work of all the people in the dpa group.
Digital version of the financial statement:
http://dpaq.de/W8Llf [1] (English)
About dpa
Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) was founded in 1949 and is one of the world's leading independent news agencies. dpa supplies media outlets, businesses and other organizations with editorial content, including text, photos, videos, graphics, audio and other formats. As an international agency, dpa reports in four languages: German, English, Spanish and Arabic. The company has around 1,000 journalists in 160 locations in Germany and abroad. Its shareholders are 180 German media companies. Staff work according to the principles outlined in the dpa statute: independently from ideologies, businesses and governments. The central editing desk, under the leadership of Editor-in-Chief Sven Gösmann, is located in Berlin. The management team, headed by President & CEO Peter Kropsch, is based in Hamburg. The Chairman of the Board is David Brandstätter (Main-Post GmbH, Würzburg).
Internet: http://www.dpa.com [2] (German, English, Spanish, Arabic)
Social media: http://www.dpa.com/de/social-media [3]
