Situation not so grim: Thomas Jacob

Jacob said the situation is not as grim as it is perceived. The global newspaper revenue is around USD 179 billion and it is one of the highest among other information and news industries.

During his presentation, Jacob also talked about the seven dramatic changes taking place in the industry – from print to online, from text and photo to multimedia storytelling, from desktop to mobile, from search to social media, from liner TV to streaming video on demand, from traditional ad sales to programmatic and native and from anonymous internet to identified internet.

“Last year, circulation generated more revenue than advertisement. Revenue generation in 2014 was USD 92 billion by circulation and USD 87 billion by advertisement,” said Jacob, clarifying that in reality, circulation figures are falling and newspaper publication houses have increased cover prices of their products.

“We have to understand that social media’s presence and revenue are increasing rapidly and we have to take advantages of this,” he added.

He also emphasised on the fact that the big wall between editorial and marketing department will not work anymore. There is also a need to improve quality in the newsroom. “We have to upgrade the skills of our operations to meet the demands of the next generation,” he said, adding, “Understand the disruption patterns, master the digital ecosystem, create an entrepreneurial mindset and culture, hire a digitally savvy CTO and embed technology inside the newsroom.”

He also suggested that the newsroom should have a chief content officer who understands the various platforms and optimise the audience engagement. “Also, learn from best practices and invest in skills development,” he concluded.