The Changing Face of Newspapers
Evolving trends present a number of challenges, but also opportunities, to newspaper publishers. The newspaper industry has started to embrace new business models such as decentralized production, shorter press runs, special editions, micro-zoning, and individualization. MyPrintResource provides...
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“It is a unique project for newspapers anywhere in the world,” Sirieix said. “On the same production line, several different titles can be printed and released in the exact order required by the distributor. Better still, on the same basis, the production line will be able to publish newspapers à la carte; that is to say, some having a common core of content where topics can be added or removed from one day to another according to the reading interests of each subscriber. This new process is revolutionary. “We certainly don’t aim to limit competition but rather lead by example,” Sirieix continued.
“We expect production costs and the distribution cost should be considerably lessened by the fact that national newspapers can now be printed at localized print plants for their local subscribers. manroland and Océ … understood our needs: a full flexibility in the folding technology to achieve sectioned broadsheets as well as the production of tabloids. For commercial production, the additional possibilities of a quarter fold are essential for us.”
Peter Kuisle, executive VP of sales, service, and marketing at manroland web systems, said, “It’s exciting to see that our hard work in continuous research and development activities and our common expertise pays off in this future-oriented project, which can change the way some newspapers will be printed and distributed in the future.”
Customized ‘MyNewspaper’ runs digital
In Switzerland, an innovative, hybrid concept presented by Swiss Post Solutions offers customized news content: Create it online; read in print the next day. It sounds good on paper. After all, many people still prefer print to the online reading experience, especially when it comes to newspapers. Europeans, in particular, seem to love their morning paper. The printed medium is tactile – you can touch and feel it. You don’t have to plug it in. You can read it conveniently at the kitchen table, in your favorite chair and/or in the bathroom, for that matter. Research shows that newsprint users retain more of what they read than their oft-distracted, online counterparts.
So, how much would you pay to have a “personalized” newspaper delivered to your doorstep? The MyNewspaper pilot project is making ink(jet)-on-paper newspapers tailored to readers’ interests a printed reality. For the past nine months, Swiss readers have been creating their own customized paper online, choosing daily content options from a dozen national and international publications. Logistics firm Swiss Post International delivers the German-language newspapers the following day. “This means that readers can combine information from different publishers, depending on what they are interested in and their reading habits,” says Casten Vossmeyer, head of press/publishers at Swiss Post, which successfully tested the personalized paper concept three years ago under the name PersonalNews.
During its year-long pilot trial, which ends in late November, the MyNewspaper product was available in the Zurich, Basel, Berne, Lucerne, and Aarau areas of Switzerland. (The same service is available anywhere in the world as an e-paper for iPad and other tablet readers.) Pagination options are available in 24-, 36 and 64-page formats.
Software-inkjet combo
The newspaper uses software developed by Previon; contents are collated into a file based on subscribers’ orders and then transferred to Swiss Post. Individualized newspapers are then digitally printed overnight on an Océ JetStream 1000 by subsidiary Swiss Post Solutions AG in the Härkingen Letter Centre and mailed the next day.
Swiss Post Solutions has been operating the JetStream 1000 since mid-2010, primarily for transaction and transpromo applications in day-shift operation. MyNewspaper permits additional capacity utilization of the system during the night shift. The JetStream -- in its quality, performance and costs -- is optimally tailored for the digitally printed newspaper market, says Océ: More than 1,000 36-page tabloid newspapers per hour can be printed in high quality and in full color on original newsprint.
The JetStream 1000 is “the optimal product for implementing the personalized newspaper concept,” said Roland Glauser, MyNewspaper project manager. “The many years of experience possessed by Océ in the printing of fully variable data considerably simplified implementation of the project.”
Océ holds several international patents in the area of personalized newspapers. “We patented the concept for personalized newspapers and founded the Digital Newspaper Network,” noted Océ’s Landesberger. “As the partner of Swiss Post … Océ is once again a pioneer in the digital newspaper market.”
