Protecting print revenues while pursuing digital expansion is the right approach helping Asian newspapers to grow in the turbulent time, said a recent international conference in Bali, Indonesia.

Those simplistic explanations about why Asian newspapers continue to grow went right out the window, according to Publish Asia, the premier Asian publishing conference organized by WAN-IFRA, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers.

More than 700 newspaper executives from across the region participated in the event, which was four conferences in one, covering all aspects of publishing: a CEO Summit, Newsroom Summit, Advertising Summit and Printing Summit.

Although some say Asian newspapers continue to gain circulation simply because they have large populations, and incomes and education are growing, that is only half of the picture.

The other half lay in the “dual wielding” work Asian publishers are doing, and there are lessons here for publishers in markets where print circulations are declining.

“The print needs to be protected because that’s where the money is, while the digital needs to be developed,” said Chua Wee Phong, Executive Vice President of Circulation for Singapore Press Holdings, speaking at the event.

“It’s a question of slowing down the rate of decline, milk as much money as you can out of it, and give the company sufficient opportunity to venture into the digital world,” he said.

“Three-quarters of the world’s top 100 largest newspapers are published in Asia. Print circulations are growing, a fact that is not easily explained away by those who insist on predicting the death of newspapers,” said Jacob Mathew, President of WAN-IFRA and Executive Editor and Publisher, Malayala Manorama Group, India.

“Millions of Asians turn to their daily paper as their primary trusted source of news and information,” he said.

One of the chief advantages that newspapers have over other media is they can use the profits generated by print, which continue to dwarf those of digital, to fund online, mobile and tablet growth. And no region does this better than Asia.

“The money is still there. There is print market share and advertising growth,” said Agung Adiprasetyo, Chief Executive Officer of Kompas Gramedia, one of Indonesia’s largest media houses.

“Almost every year, we try to do something new with the newspaper – a new page, a new section – and it may be unusual, but we try it. If it doesn’t work, you can always stop it, but if works, you have something new,” said Azrul Ananda, Director, Jawa Pos, Indonesia.

“The demand to fulfill the needs of people for quality information cannot be satisfied by print alone,” he said. “We believe that, rather than just one pillar, it is always better to have two or three.”

“Today we push to newsprint – in future it will be tablet or whatever comes,” said Dipankar Das Purkayastha, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, APB Pte Ltd., India.

“The core principle we have moving forward is that we’re no longer thinking about business in terms of geography and platforms but about audience and content,” said Jack Matthew, Chief Executive Officer, Fairfax Metro Media, Australia.

“Most important is to learn from others, and adjust to your environment,” Pichai Chuensuksawadi, Editor-in-chief, Post Publishing, Thailand.

WAN-IFRA, based in Paris, France, and Darmstadt, Germany, with subsidiaries in Singapore, India, Spain, France and Sweden, is the global organization of the world’s newspapers and news publishers.

It represents more than 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries. Its core mission is to defend and promote press freedom, quality journalism and editorial integrity and the development of prosperous businesses.

Summaries of presentations from the CEO Summit are now available from WAN-IFRA.

Exclusively for members of WAN-IFRA, a full executive report on the event can be found at http://www.wan-ifra.org/summaries

Non-members can access an abbreviated version of the summary in return for a tweet or a Facebook entry at http://blog.wan-ifra.org/blogs/publish-asia-2012-blog.

Source: tuoitrenews