Newspaper & Mailroom
IFRA publishes new Flashlight and Special Reports
Monday 22. December 2008 - IFRAs latest research topics range from mobile web and video to newsroom organisation and new types of advertising
At the end of 2008, IFRA published two up-to-the-minute reports in its Flashlight series covering the latest developments in the media industry, including mobile web and printcasting. In parallel, two new IFRA Special Reports have been published on the topics of the use of video at magazines and newspapers as well as newsroom reorganisation; a third, bearing the title Innovative Advertising, is at present being completed.
In addition, two further “Where NEWS?” reports have been published: Report No. 7 on The Future of Newspaper Printing Technology and No. 8 on Scenarios of Media Use in Europe and North America in 2017. IFRA research reports are obtainable in different languages as well as in print or PDF versions (www.ifra.com).
New IFRA Flashlight reports
The Flashlight reports are published in the IFRA Magazine (in several languages: www.iframagazine.com) and are available as PDF downloads from the IFRA website (www.ifra.com/flashlight).
FLR.05 “Mobile Web –
Putting the web in your readers pockets”:
Number of pages: 4 – also published in the IFRA Magazine (September issue 2008):
What we love about the web is its vastness. What we love about mobile devices is their smallness. That in essence is the problem faced by web designers and content providers when it comes to reaching an audience on the go. The evolution of mobile phones has seen them go from simple communication devices to must-have personal assistants and entertainment centres. Putting the web in your pocket has been the dream for more than a decade, yet it is only now we are seeing an explosion in mobile web use.
FLR.06 “Printcasting –
New project boosts niche publishing prospects”:
Number of pages: 4 – also published in the IFRA Magazine (October/November issue 2008):
How would you like a means of exploring ultra local news and (very) niche publishing markets without having to invest significant time, resources, or money? What if you could then automate that process so that generating copy, aggregating content, publishing, and distribution all simply took care of themselves? If advertisers could be left to place their own ads and the content providers got an equitable share of the profits? All automatically. And what if the end result was either online or hard copy just as the target market wants? Thats the premise of Printcasting, a technology aimed at bridging the online/offline divide, exploring new publishing sectors, and turning an honest buck in the process.
New IFRA Special Reports
The following IFRA Special Reports, that are sent to IFRA members free of charge, were published in recent months or are at present being translated into English, French or German and prepared for mailing (www.ifra.com/specialreports):
08.2008 “Newspapers go video –
options and opportunities”:
Number of pages: 44.
The increasing availability of broadband connections, whether at home or mobile, allow fast and simple video consumption. This makes integrating video contents an interesting prospect also for newspaper publishing houses. Very few of these have, or had until recently, experience with the moving image medium. Video contents are considered to have a high potential as regards reach and advertising revenues. Consequently, in the last months there have been many impulses to incorporate video contents, either produced outside and/or internally, into existing portfolios. This report is intended as an orientation aid and examines the various aspects of integrating video activities into newspaper publishing houses. What are the options of publishing houses for the production and distribution of moving images? What do the options mean as regards the necessary investments, especially in technology? How do I install journalistic know-how in the newsroom? And last but not least: What are the possibilities to generate income?
09.2008 “The changing newsroom III:
Principles and guidelines for managing change”:
Number of pages: 28.
This three-part series of research reports sets out to give an overview of the types of editorial change processes that newsrooms undergo today. The third and final report in the series deals with the aspect of implementing editorial reorganisation. It connects elements of the theoretical approaches and basic structures presented in the first report with the findings in the second report. It is the stated objective of this final report to communicate basic principles and provide guidelines for implementing editorial change processes. These principles and guidelines can be applied to every editorial change process launched by a publishing house and its newsroom management.
10.2008 “Innovative Advertising”:
Number of pages: 52.
Newspaper publishing houses throughout the world recognise that, in an era of constantly increasing media diversity, they must offer their customers more than advertising spaces. For this reason, newspapers today, with the aid of modern production technology and based on a customer-oriented communication strategy, are offering innovative advertising possibilities in a hitherto unknown diversity. However, no comprehensive presentation has been available to date. Consequently, IFRA undertook the task not only to compile examples of innovative newspaper advertising, but also to document it in a way that gives impulses for new ideas because it shows the vast range of todays possibilities and at the same time gives professionals the tips they need in order to be able to check the conditions for new types of advertising in their own environment. Innovative newspaper advertising can not only be seen, but also smelt, heard, felt, looked through, put up on the wall as a poster and scan with the mobile camera – all this is described in the report.
All the above Special Reports contain numerous illustrations and tables.