SCMP and Schibsted charting the digital transformation

Delivering the opening keynote addresses are South China Morning Post’s (SCMP) CEO, Gary Liu, and Schibsted Norway’s Head of Editorial, Torry Pedersen.

Backed by new owner Alibaba, SCMP started its digital journey in 2015 when it revitalised the newsroom, reinvigorated the company culture and took on a print-to-digital approach, with a strong focus on data and analytics. Since dropping its paywall in 2016, it has been in aggressive product development mode to launch new content channels and other offerings, such as video and podcasts, with a view to devising new revenue models which will set the company on a path to profitability by 2023.

Often held up as THE shining example of a legacy media company which has succeeded in transforming itself digitally, the Schibsted Media Group makes disruption seem hip. Today, more than 60% of revenue comes from digital activities and its largest revenue generator is its online classifieds section which enjoys an annual growth of 15-20%.  This is one company which is not afraid of disrupting itself.

Driving new revenue with local communities

Diversifying revenue streams has become a key priority for news publishers. As media companies grapple with identifying new products, the conference will also feature established publishers who have become disruptors in their communities. One of them is Stuff. Sinead Boucher, Stuff’s CEO will share how the company - formerly Fairfax New Zealand - has undergone a makeover into a revenue-generating hyperlocal social platform reaching 3 million people a month, in a country with a population of just 4.5 million. While maintaining a steadfast commitment to quality content, this company with a history going back 160 years, has branched out into providing fibre broadband, electricity at cost price, movie streaming and even private health insurance.

Driving new revenue with native advertising, quality content and subscription

Other news publishers are seeing an explosion in growth of sponsored content. With increasing demand for branded and high-quality content, publishers have set up content labs to serve their clients better. Speakers from Bloomberg|Quint, The Wall Street Journal Custom Studio and T Brand Studio International (the content marketing unit of The New York Times) will discuss the trends, challenges and innovative sponsored content solutions, including creating campaigns in AR/VR and over WhatsApp, which till now, has been notoriously hard to crack as an advertising platform, with good reason.

Digital Media Asia Awards 2018: Celebrating digital media excellence

Over 30 awards across 10 categories will be presented at the Asian Digital Media Awards Presentation Ceremony on 8 November 2018.

Digital Media Asia is the region’s largest digital media conference organised by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA). More than 30 speakers from 10 countries will share their best practices at this three-day conference designed for senior management and executives in the publishing and media industries. They will tackle key issues such as transformation models, diversification of revenue streams, media consumption patterns, digital subscription, engagement and monetisation in the news publishing landscape.

Media buyers, marketing and communications professionals and academia will also find the sessions to be of value, given the massive changes in the way media is consumed globally.

Other speakers at the conference:

• Nicole Bales, Director, APAC, The Wall Street Journal Customs Studios
• Chua Kong Ho, Technology Editor, South China Morning Post
• Ankit Dhadda, Head, Product & Marketing Bloomberg|Quint
• Grig Davidovitz, CEO, RGB Media
• John Fong, MD,Woodwing APAC & Digital Services
• Tobias Henning, General Manager, Premium, BILD
• Ravi Hiranand, Executive Producer, Abacus, South China Morning Post
• Angie Lau, Co-founder & Head, Forkast.News
• Korey Lee, Director, Data Analytics & Insights, South China Morning Post
• Steven Neubauer, Former Managing Director, Neue Zürcher Zeitung
• Rasmus Nielsen, Director of Research, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
• Reno Ong, Pre-Sale Director, APAC, T-Brand Studio, The New York Times
• Simon Park, Content Strategist, Mediati.kr
• Jess Ross, Chief Product Officer, Fairfax Media, Australia
• Gaurav Sachdeva, Chief Product Officer, Singapore Press Holdings
• Tilman Wagner, Innovation Manager, Deutsche Welle
• Erika Tapalla, Senior Manager, Business Development, Reuters News Agency
• Mark van der Kamp, CEO, Escenic
• Joon-Ian Wong, MD for Europe & Asia, CoinDesk

The full programme can be found at the following address: dma.wan-ifra.com