Making money – fast – in media
How do you transform a solid newspaper business into a media company producing many millions of US dollars in earnings? You “try everything”, says Luis Fernando Santos, president of Casa Editorial El Tiempo in Columbia. Speaking at the 60th World Newspaper Congress in Cape Town this week, Santos gave media executives from around the world tips on how to boost profits in a world where print bosses find themselves in a mature industry.
And when Santos says everything, he means strategising around every area of the business, from embracing other media to joining forces with competitors if necessary.
El Tiempo, founded in 1911 and with the third largest newspaper circulation in South America remains a family business, has boosted profits considerably in recent years on the back of a multimedia, content-focused strategy.
In the late 1990s, says Santos, the company “came to better understand our main asset was content”. After being “totally dependent on print”, it began an aggressive diversification strategy, with the main focus always on producing quality content.
Portfolio
Now, in addition to newspapers, El Tiempo has in its portfolio magazines, television channels, Internet portals, book publishers – and the list keeps growing. It has a turnover of several hundred million US dollars and impressive forecast earnings.
Santos said that 10 years ago, the newspaper company “included the words advertisers and audiences” for the first time in its company's mission and vision.
Particularly innovative is a content structure that has all products accessing a common database and adapting content to suit their own interests.
Diaries are sent to product editors early in the morning and the general approach is that a media outlet within the company must be the first with news, though it doesn't really matter which one. Only certain stories are embargoed and exclusive stories are rare, said Santos.
Journalists are grouped into subject areas, with different media types drawing on subject specialists for content. Television news casts are generated from the general newsroom.
The Columbian company has also moved towards developing multimedia products where it identifies a gap in, for example, advertising. So, it created a suite of products – including magazine, television programme and Internet site – to cater for young mothers.
Sales part of strategy
The sales force is also an important part of the El Tiempo strategy, with sales representatives working together and selling for a range of products rather than individual products. Other successful media company executives also emphasised the importance of quality content and expending energy on connecting valuable audiences with advertisers.
Klaus Lutz, CEO of Suddeutchse Zeitung in Germany, told delegates how his traditional newspaper company had turned around its ailing financial fortunes a few years ago by branching out into line extension products such as books, consumer magazines and DVDs.
From facing “the worst scenario”, the company went on to claim 4% of the German fiction market, launched a new magazine selling 100 000 copies a week and salvaged the company's reputation, brand and future.
In spite of the range of new products, the heart of the business remains the editorial staff, said Lutz, who chose and introduced the titles of the fiction collection. “High editorial quality is our most important asset,” Lutz told the conference, adding that he dedicated his presentation to his company's editorial staff.
