Tuesday, November 25, 2008 Cabaero: Media house By Nini B. Cabaero Beyond 30
MANY newspaper publishing houses have transformed themselves into media houses as they move away from being a one-medium entity to a multiple-mediums organization no longer limited to the printed newspaper.
It is a worldwide trend wherein newspaper houses are beginning to call themselves the more medium-inclusive term of “media houses” to reflect the change in the market brought about by media use habits, new technology, and the different ways of getting the news.
Jochen Dieckow, research manager of IFRA, an international organization of media owners and managers, said “Newspaper houses are becoming media operations that reach consumers via a wide range of different channels and platforms. Knowledge of how, when and on which channel it is possible to attract the attention of the different target audiences will undoubtedly become a central factor to success.”
The IFRA recently concluded a contest on cross-media advertising called “XMA 2008” to highlight best practices in the “marriage” of different media channels for advertising. The winners showed how going multimedia would impact on the organization, on skill sets, on mindset, on revenue.
Dieckow said in an IFRA Magazine article (www.nxtbook.fr/nxtbooks/ifra/2008_xma_book/) that one strategy for newspaper publishers for confronting the growing competition from the Internet and other new media channels is to “connect different media channels.”
“A soloist becomes an orchestra director. It is this linking and the ability to master not only one instrument but to bring different instruments into perfect harmony that can prove to be a decisive competitive advantage in the advertising market,” Dieckow said. “Cross-media is a reality. And cross-media is a resource that can be very effectively exploited. 1 + 1 is sometimes more than 2.”
And the road to going multimedia or cross-media need not be difficult because newspaper houses have the advantage of a print product already with a very strong position in the market.
Dieckow wrote of the strategy to “strengthen existing strengths” and the reverse path which is to “weaken existing weaknesses.” He also suggested that media houses “do something new without abandoning what is already in place.”
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Sun.Star Cebu marks its 26th anniversary today not as a single-medium entity but as a multiple-mediums organization that is into newspapers, magazines, yearbooks, websites, blogs and video.
The Sun.Star website at www.sunstar.com.ph was redesigned to give it a modern look and to highlight its interactive features and video reports. (Marlen Limpag, Sun.Star Network Exchange (Sunnex) managing editor, writes about the website’s new look in an article in today’s issue.)
Comments to the website’s new design so far have been mixed with some preferring the old site and others welcoming the modern look. What is nice about a website is that changes can be made at any time and in as many times as needed.
The Sun.Star website redesign is a work in progress with no end in sight for as long as improvement is still possible.
