Multiplatform future is no longer the future. It is here

Multimedia storytelling, database journalism, readers’ engagement and distribution are the key areas newspaper publishers can explore to make money online, as suggests Caroline Little, an adviser to the Guardian (UK).

Caroline Little is a  a former CEO of Washingtonpost.newsweek Interactive (US) and now serves as the special adviser at Guardian News & Media (UK).

She gave her keynote speech on monetizing digital amid marketplace challenges at the 3rd World Digital Publishing Conference, organised in Amsterdam on October 15-16 by the World Association of Newspapers.

”We now live in the best times for journalism – people have never been so much interested in news, and the web has no boundaries”, said Ms. Little.

She added that it is important for newsmedia companies to change their core products according to the changing audience (and that does not mean putting more information on Britney Spears).

The readers do not need news from yesterday, and that is what they get mostly from printed newspapers. The next day they want the context and analysis of a described event. Newsrooms have to change how they gather and how they distribute the news. And this is the main change of the core product.

As Ms. Little said, the publishers should think about the assets and how to use them in the best way. If their audience is getting the similar content from somewhere else, the advertisers may in the future search for those media which have better reach.  What to do with it? Sell your products on different platforms. Advertisers nowadays need different platforms to advertise their products and services. The newsmedia companies should keep one foot rooted in the core journalism product (print newspaper), and one in the new emerging market (new platforms).

Mrs. Little gave advice on 4 top ways to make online projects more profitable:

• Multimedia storytelling (video, audio, blogs, etc.). The question is what is the best way to tell a story. Just because publishers have all the tools does not mean they have to use them all at once. Sometimes picture speak louder than words, sometimes the words are not enough. And just for comparison, as Caroline Little said, a cost preparation and running video on TV costs about 300.000 US dollars – on the other site, the cost of preparing and running video on the net is about 140 US dollars.
• Database journalism. Databases are useful to the readers (searchable lists: for example – numbers of death toll in Iraq, local crime, sports recruiting numbers). When such tools are repeated in a smart way, they will attract the readers so they not only read the news but keep returning.
• Readers’ engagement. Working with readers is not easy, quite often the angrier they are, the more active on the website they can become. But instead of asking a reader hwether he is loyal or not, it is enough to check his posts and comments. Readers are not only consumers but could be resources as well (commenting and giving ideas to the reporters at the same time). Washingtonpost.com for example in every article publishes links to blogs that talk about it. Even though some blogs are critical, this linking proves the transparency of the newspaper.
• Distribution. Publishers should use the oportunity – it is now possible to reach the reader anytime. Everybody knows how hard it is to invite a reader the site. Getting him back is even harder, so it is neccessary to throw as many fishing lines as possible (publishing on various platforms).

Caroline Little said there is a long way ahead before declaring the victory. When digital revenues sum up to 20% of the entire revenues of the newsmedia company, it is already a good achievement. But all publishers should be aware that this shift towards the internet will continue, and the percentage of digital revenues will grow.

So far, it is critical to understand the digital audience: how they come in, what they read, what kind of content they look at, how much time they spent on the site, and in what direction they are leaving the site. Understanding the audience will help giving them the product they are expecting.

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