Optimising the balance between reader and advertising revenue for news brands. Europe's best case studies for growing news companies' revenue, brand and audience.
Pick up your badge at our registration desk if you haven't done so Sunday evening.
Go in-depth across Facebook, Instagram and Messenger to understand which products, features and strategies drive starts and retention. Come prepared with questions for this interactive session.
Gerold Riedmann
President INMA European Board & Managing Director Russmedia, Austria LinkedIn
Anita Zielina
Director of Innovation and Leadership, J-School at CUNY & INMA Conference Moderator, United States LinkedIn
It's all about growth! Stefan will explain how Axel Springer's key media brands BILD and WELT in Germany foster growth by focusing on product innovation, diversifying revenue streams and expanding the audience to new target groups and future platforms. Technology plays a key role in this growth phase in order to react on fast-changing user behavior and to optimize content creation and distribution processes. But how to identify new opportunities for future growth? And how to examine risks for existing business models? Stay tuned!
Stefan Betzold
Managing Director Digital News Media, Axel Springer, Germany LinkedIn
A bunch of Funke Media Group executives participated in the INMA Media Viking Week in 2017. What followed was an internal project dubbed "The Oslo Project." Two years on, Funke is deep into a digital transformation and the reader revenue revolution (the project is now re-named 'User First' as per INMA's Readers First Initiative). Hear the story of what Funke learned from INMA members in Scandinavia and how they've given those lessons learned a specific German twist and perfecting the art of digital subscriptions.
Ruth Betz
Leiterin Digitale Transformation, Funke Medien Gruppe, Germany Ruth Beth LinkedIn
Berndt Röttger
Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Hamburger Abendblatt, Funke Medien Gruppe, Germany @berndtroettger
Five creative case studies that drive revenue, brand or audience.
How a simple idea of adding a countdown clock to articles changed the whole value proposition of a digital subscription. This idea was first presented to INMA on the 2019 Subscription Study Tour of Scandinavia and received wide recognition by INMA members from across the globe on said Study Tour. Learn about this simple but effective idea in this 10-minute Brainsnack presentation.
Thomas Sundgren
Head of MittMedia/Reacher Solutions, Mittmedia, Sweden
Find out how the Zeit Online festival "Z2X" - at first designed as a one-off - turned into an annual recurring event of 800 to 1,000 participants aged 20-30 and a real "brand value-added" event for the ZEIT brand.
Natalie Wuebbolt
Project Lead Z2X-Festival, Die Zeit, Germany
How Onet.pl launched the "#100latPolsko (Happy 100th Anniversary Poland!) platform" to celebrate Poland's 100-year anniversary, bringing Poles closer together and uniting the country.
Olga Korolec
Onet.pl, Ringier Axel Springer, Poland Olga Korolec LinkedIn
Interactive Snow in Lech/Arlberg is the prime destination for German, Austrian and Swiss media executives when it comes to Innovation and Digital Opportunities in journalism and media.
Georg Burtscher
Managing Director, Russmedia Digital, Austria Georg LinkedIn
A crowdfunded, ad-free journalism platform with very high journalistic ambition that just managed to renew the majority of their subscribers after year 1.
Miriam Walther
Managing Director, Republik.ch, Switzerland Miriam Walther LinkedIn
Every morning at 6:10 am Pit Gottschalk's newsletter "Fever Pit'ch" is available for free: as a digital morning paper with the editorial on the football theme of the day and links to the best football stories in Germany and internationally. Always pointedly commented and often enriched with podcasts and short videos.
Pit Gottschalk
Publisher Fever Pit'ch, Germany @westermeyerPit Gottschalk LinkedIn
Philipp is the founder of OMR — a 360° media firm based in Hamburg, Germany with a focus on digital marketing and tech. The annual OMR Festival is one of the largest digital conferences in Europe. OMR brings together over 50,000 attendees, international stars and senior leaders from major European organizations and big-name international players.
In addition to the festival, OMR publishes daily articles on digital and tech topics found nowhere else. Furthermore, Philipp and the OMR Team produce the OMR Podcast, which reaches a weekly audience of 40,000, the in-depth OMR Reports, the largest jobs portal in the industry, as well as many other special events.
Philipp Westermeyer
Founder Online Marketing rockstars (OMR.com), Germany @westermeyerPhilipp Westermeyer LinkedIn
The first line in this conference's overall theme is "Optimising the balance between reader and advertising revenue for news brands." It is no coincidence that we wanted a good chunk of this conference programme to focus on advertising. The heart of Germany's advertising industry beats in Hamburg. More than 1,500 advertising agencies and around 15,000 employees make Hamburg Germany's ad capital. While "reader revenue" takes centre-stage these days at media companies, advertising revenue still has a big role to play to the bottom line.
We've seen many news media companies invest heavily in data analytics for content personalisation and selling digital subscriptions. Yet a good investment in your data analytics tools can be put to good use by your advertising team too. Using all first-party, GDPR-compliant data and reader-focused, Mediahuis is able to sell data-driven advertising at a premium.
Jessica Bulthé
Data Analyst Digital Advertising, Mediahuis, Belgium @westermeyer Jessica Bulthé LinkedIn
Over the past years, Schibsted made several studies on the effects on display: short digital exposures. They also made two mobile studies and a Data & Context study. In 2018 they decided to look at long digital exposures: native text-articles.
Josefine Kvarnström
Schibsted Brand Studio and Insight, Sweden Josefine Kvarnström LinkedIn
Isabelle Redving
Creative Concept Specialist, Schibsted Isabelle Redving
The new era of advertising: events, sponsorships & native.
The objectives of "Irish Times Food Month," were clearly defined from the outset: grow revenue, build a community, build brand equity, create profitable events, drive social, etc. The campaign exceeded expectations on all fronts (including growing advertising revenue by 12%).
Eimear Moran
Media Solutions Director, The Irish Times, Ireland
@emesmc Eimear Moran LinkedIn
Due to its demographics, it's getting harder and harder to attract young talent to apprenticeship in the Austria region of Vorarlberg. VOL.AT built a "cross media package" for its local advertising clients in a short time frame; consisting of print, target advertising on volt.at, video, social media channels, a large event. Within a very short time frame, their crossmedia packages were sold out.
Michael Märk
Head of Regional Sales, Russmedia, Austria @maerk77 Michael Märk LinkedIn
Brand Always wanted to be more present within the target group "young women." This target group can be difficult to reach as well as engage. Many of them no longer watch linear TV, neither do they read newspapers and even engaging them via social media has proven hard. Partnering with shero.dk, Always got the opportunity to both reach and involve that specific target group. Shero is a digital niche media aimed at young women between 18 and 25 years of age and is a nice media within Ekstra Bladet (Denmark's largest tabloid news media).
Mette Pabst
Editor-in-Chief Ekstra Bladet Nichemedia @westermeyer MetteLinkedIn
What is the future of advertising revenue in a news media world where "reader revenue" calls the shots. What is the future of advertising for news media brands, if there is one?
Eimear Moran
Media Solutions Director, The Irish Times, Ireland
@emesmc Eimear Moran LinkedIn
Michael Märk
Head of Regional Sales, Russmedia, Austria @maerk77 Michael Märk LinkedIn
Mette Pabst
Editor-in-Chief Ekstra Bladet Nichemedia @westermeyer MetteLinkedIn
Die Zeit has always been highly innovative, often referred to as the world champion of brand differentiation. This spirit is also inherent in its digital entities — from paid strategy to editorial direction to events with millennials. Christian will present the most significant projects of the last couple of years, and will also take a look at what did not work as planned.
Christian Röpke
CEO, Zeitonline, Germany @chrisroepke Christian Röpke LinkedIn
Helsingin Sanomat (HS) is worried about recent developments in press freedom globally. Mr. Trump and Putin are both being followed and copied, and when they are hostile towards media this has global consequences. With this campaign, HS wanted to fight back and show their support to colleagues who are being suppressed. They thought their potential and current subscribers would be proud of them, doing what they think is right even though free press is not a pressing issue in Finland. Press freedom is like clean air - the big audience only notices it when it is gone, unless we talk about it.
Veera Siivonen
Marketing Director, Helsingin Sanomat, FinlandVeera LinkedIn
Anita Zielina
Director of Innovation and Leadership, J-School at CUNY & INMA Conference Moderator, United States LinkedIn
Christian Printzell Halvorsen
CEO, cXense @printzellChristian Printzell Halvorsen LinkedIn
Drinks reception at the end of Day 1. Drinks on cXense.
Afterwards participants enjoy a free night out in the city of Hamburg.
Join Google for a breakfast conversation on the company's efforts to drive subscriptions and consumer revenue for the news industry.
Christian Heise
Google News Product Partnerships Manager
Anita Zielina
Director of Innovation and Leadership, J-School at CUNY & INMA Conference Moderator, United States LinkedIn
How digital disruptions have been affecting retail, marketplaces and advertising industries and perhaps create new opportunities for news publishers — in reinventing advertising and in building a consumer revenue business beyond news subscriptions.
Grzegorz — Greg — Piechota
Researcher-In-Residence at INMA, UKGreg LinkedIN
The main objective of the project was to keep customers from churning. It resulted in a new "My subscription" page and a brand new online anti-churn process. "My subscription" was developed to engage, retain and excite customers by visualizing the value proposition of the subscription. This solution has become a destination for all subscribers with information about their product, including administration such as family sharing and stop, pause and change subscription. An essential part of "My subscription" is the new "anti-churn" process.
Maria Nervik
Schibsted, NorwayMaria LinkedIn
In the year that Poland's Gazeta Wyborcza (established when communism fell in Poland in 1989) celebrates its 30th birthday, the news media brand is seeing unparalleled growth in digital subscriptions. Learn how the daily fight for democracy and free elections and growth in digital subscriptions are well connected. Proof that "standing for something" is a nobel cause but also good business.
Aleksandra Sobczak
Chief of Digital Newsroom, Gazeta Wyborcza, PolandAleksandra LinkedIn
Norway's Amedia has evolved from a traditional local newspaper company to a highly successful digital news subscription operation, with live sports videos as a key ingredient in the customer value proposition. Amedia's pivot to digital subscriptions and content development strategy have created impressive year-on-year growth in subscribers for several years. Local sports is our NHL, our Premier League.
Helge Birkelund
Vice President Sport, Amedia, Norway Helge Birkelund LinkedIn
Reflection on NZZ's last 5 years of paid content transformation journey from a data perspective. Some few successes and a lot more failures on the other hand. But most importantly, what they've learned out of it.
Markus Barmettler
Head of Data & Analytics, NZZ, Switzerland Markus Barmettler LinkedIn
When NWZ Mediengruppe replaced its outdated CRM system, it became more central than ever to the company's overall strategy. Here are its four components: structure, emotions, connectivity and people.
Silke Mohnsame
CRM Demand & Adoption Manager, NWZ Mediengruppe, Germany Silke LinkedIn
Fabian Rosekeit
Growth Manager, NWZ Mediengruppe, Germany Fabian LinkedIn
Where can publishers work together? What works and doesn't? And can media alliances work beyond "nationwide logins"? How about alliances on the advertising market? What is the role of press agencies in this day and age; friend or foe for publishers?
News agencies are changing. The pure news suppliers of the past have become powerful partners for publishers. News agencies help to strengthen reader loyalty, learn more about digital consumers and develop new tools and techniques. This is especially true for dpa, which for 70 years has not only been the news and information backbone of the German media, but has also been a common platform for pushing forward industry solutions and making innovation faster and cheaper.
Peter Kropsch
CEO DPA, Germany Peter Kropsch LinkedIn
Europe Talks, based on Die Zeit's original initiative in Germany "Deutschland spricht" in 2018. This year's edition of "My Country Talks" involves engagement from The Financial Times (United Kingdom), Der Standard (Austria), HuffPost and La Republicca (Italy), Morgenbladet (Norway), Gazeta Wyborcza (Poland), and De Standaard and Knack & Bruzz (Belgium). Europeans across the continent provided feedback on political statements and were then matched with other Europeans who had opposing views.
The above mentioned project is a beautiful text-book case of editorial collaboration. But are these collaborations worth the time and effort? Are they a blessing in disguise? The future of news media? A panel discussion.
Sebastian Horn
Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Zeitonline, GermanySebastian LinkedIn
Karel Verhoeven
Editor-in-Chief, De Standaard, BelgiumKarel LinkedIn
Aleksandra Sobczak
Chief of Digital Newsroom, Gazeta Wyborcza, PolandAleksandra LinkedIn
Panel moderator
Anita Zielina
Director of Innovation and Leadership, J-School at CUNY & INMA Conference Moderator, United States LinkedIn
Several alliances between news media companies have been formed to boost advertising sales in recent months across Europe. "The Ozone Project" in the UK is one and the alliance between Media Impact and RTL Group in Germany is another. Dutch publishers Sanoma, De Persgroep and TMG have recently joined forces under the brand "NLProfiel". Hear the early lessons learned from these collaborations; and what night be expected in the (near) future. Session sponsored by Nexta.
Danny Spears
Commercial and Operations Director, The Ozone Project, UKDanny LinkedIn
Carsten Schwecke
CEO, Media Impact, GermanyCarsten LinkedIn
Panel moderator
Eimear Moran
Media Solutions Director, The Irish Times, IrelandEimear Moran LinkedIn
BestBook is the unique monthly magazine in Croatia and the region, following the modern concept of using all platforms and working with the best and the most important authors. Covering political, science, history themes, writing book reviews, etc., BestBook is the media sponsor of the best literary festivals in Croatia and the region (Festival of World Literature, Zagreb Book Festival...)
Goran Gavranovic
Editor-in-Chief, 24Sata, Croatia Goran Gavranovic LinkedIn
Print Automation lets you design your print pages automatically, with no loss of quality and no use of Adobe InDesign. But can it really be done? Dagens Næringsliv is actively testing this at the moment; with ~50% of the printed paper now on automation.
Espen Moe
Sub editor at Dagens Næringsliv, NHST, NorwaySpeaker LinkedIn
Founded in 1919, the Guardian Weekly newspaper provided a roundup of the Guardian's news to readers around the world. The growth of broadcast and later online news changed the focus of the Weekly, but it remained an important, profit-making part of the Guardian. But could it do more? This was the key question posed when The Guardian Weekly relaunched in October 2018. Others included: is it possible to create a dynamic print-news product in 2018? Can you make a new print product that's attractive to younger readers and as a complement to the Guardian's web-first strategy?
Mylene Sylvestre
Publishing Director, Guardian News & Media, UK Mylene Sylvestre
Anita Zielina
Director of Innovation and Leadership, J-School at CUNY & INMA Conference Moderator, United States LinkedIn
Earl J. Wilkinson
Executive Director and CEO, INMA @earljwilkinson Earl J. Wilkinson LinkedIn
Gerold Riedmann
President INMA European Division, Editor-in-Chief Vorarlberger Nachrichten & CEO Russmedia Digital, Austria
Busses depart for the conference dinner from the Empire Riverside Hotel.
Seperaste registration required to attend this dinner (limited places).
Busses depart from the Empire Riverside Hotel at 18:30.
Dress code: smart evening wear.
Busses will bring dinner guests back to the Empire Riverside Hotel after dinner.
Lunch