Media24 has over 63,000 followers on Twitter and over 41,000 fans on Facebook. It publishes more than 48 magazines, 14 websites and 67 newspapers. Now it is turning to TV and video to further diversify its product portfolio. This is a company that recently celebrated its 100th year anniversary; a company that is certainly embracing the digitalisation of the publishing industry.
The publishing industry has seen significant changes in the past 20 years – increasingly so in the last five years; at Enterprise Africa we know about this more than anyone! With the development of technology moving faster and faster, the established media channels have found themselves under threat. Today, anyone can report the news, anyone can write informative and thought provoking articles, anyone can make videos that can reach all corners of the globe and anyone can contact anyone for any reason. But we all already know this. So how is it that big publishing companies are being effected?
One factor is the market. Today, the market for the written word is both bigger and smaller than ever. It’s bigger as the internet has changed distribution, giving bloggers and writer’s access to the entire world, and it’s smaller as the spaces between creator and consumer have been closed – because of the internet.
So, the internet is the key to the change? Well, 90% of the time, yes. There is still a demand from some corners for something to hold, something to go out and collect but newspapers, magazines, books and even TV shows are all going digital, if they haven’t already. In the modern market, where demand for information is higher than ever, you have to be able to provide instantly. You have to utilise digital channels in order to connect with people in real time – if they want to read about something then you must make it available easily, quickly and inexpensively.
In Africa, it is reported that internet use on mobile phones will increase 20-fold in the next five years – double the rate of growth in the rest of the world. For publishers, this is both a blessing and a curse as it means they will have to invest in change strategies and technology to get their material into a mobile format but they will also reap the rewards of having a market place that is significantly bigger than before.
Media24 is South Africa’s leading publisher with interests in digital media and services, newspapers, magazines, ecommerce, book publishing, print and distribution. The company is now 100 years old and has witnessed the changing demand for media services first-hand. In 1915, the then named De Nationale Pers Beperkt, (now Naspers and Media24’s parent company) launched its first newspaper, an Afrikaans publication named De Burger (now Die Burger).
Today, the company is home to many popular newspaper and magazine titles and also owns many websites that receive thousands of visitors every month. Magazines like Men’s Health SA, Top Gear SA, Grazia, Kick Off and Tvplus are all part of the Media24 portfolio. Newspapers including the Standard, City Press, the Daily Sun and the Witness are all part of Media24 and websites like news24, fin24, sport24 and news 24 Nigeria all form part of the company’s digital offering.
The product portfolio shows how far the company has come, and how it is actively addressing the digitalisation of the publishing industry. Evidence of a change in approach is found in the company’s official strategy which is to ‘reshape Media24 to remain relevant and useful to consumers and clients and create value for our shareholders’.
Perhaps a driver behind this strategy comes from the grim-reading that comes when looking at other international titles and publishers that have failed with the digitalisation process.
A CHANGING MARKET
In 2009, following the global economic recession, a number of prominent print magazine titles bit the dust. I.D. magazine that had been published for 55 years went; Vibe magazine, published for 17 years closed; 10-year old National Geographic Adventure went and America’s Gourmet magazine closed after 68 years.
This year, former global hit, NME magazine reported that its combined digital and print circulation had dropped below 15,000 for the first time ever; a stark realisation for a magazine that once sold 300,000 print copies every month.
One of the UKs top publishers, Future Publishing, recently reported difficulties seeing losses of £35 million and cutting more than 400 people. Future is home to global brands such as T3, Total Film and Gizmodo.
Fortunately for Future, it has installed a turnaround strategy and is starting to see results after investment in its digital presence. In May, it reported the first profit at its struggling US business in seven years. It also reported that 50% of its revenues now come from digital and diversified businesses. The company said that its digital advertising revenues grew by 14% year on year, e-commerce revenues increased by 250% and events revenues rose by 15%. Although this is still a difficult time for the company, it claimed that the transformation of a struggling print-focused business into a digitally diversified content business is now almost completed.
For Media24, this transformation started a few years ago and CEO, Esmaré Weideman is fully behind the transformation.
“Like media companies globally our traditional print operations have been hit hard by declining advertising revenue and circulation. Over 60 of our senior staff have been working on plans to reduce costs and drive efficiencies in our businesses,” she told The Media Online. “We have identified initiatives ranging from consolidating back-end functions such as finance and IT to optimising distribution and printing. Some of these initiatives will kick off immediately and others will be fully implemented over the next two years.
“We should be focusing on getting our great content to as many consumers as possible, across as many platforms as possible. Also, we are preparing ourselves for a future where our new businesses, built to diversify our revenue base, will start kicking in and where publishing will be one of several solid revenue streams for the company.”
Last year, Weideman told eNCA’s Jeremy Maggs that there is still value in advertising but connectivity in South Africa was causing a problem.
“Advertisers are cutting back on their marketing spend and the real reason for that is the economy. The economy is very slow and advertisers as much as consumers are feeling the pinch. Advertisers are looking for more innovative, more targeted and more measureable campaigns. We need to demonstrate to our advertisers the value in these massive, loyal print and digital audiences that big media companies can offer,” she said.
“We have great brands and digital properties. You can do such great things and the audiences just aren’t there in the numbers they should be. I could tear my hair out at the speed of broadband in this country. It’s more expensive and slower than in many other parts of Africa. One can only hope that it will become affordable for people to consume media in such a different and exciting way.”
In July, Naspers CEO, Bob van Dijk complemented Media24 for the way it has handled the transition from print to digital in an interview with news24, saying: “I must say, our Media24 group deserves a compliment. They have managed to invest in becoming more of a digital publisher and an e-commerce business, while still delivering profits to the group in an environment that is not easy.
“They know that offline advertising budgets are under pressure and they need to adjust and they are. In the meantime, they find the room to invest in new propositions, like Careers24,” he said.
“They’re in for a tough number of years, where the business model will change quite significantly, but I would say they understand those standards quite well and are adjusting quite well,” he added.
CONTINUAL DIVERSIFICATION
Adding further to its migration towards digital and video services, Media24 recently launched a new TV channel, VIA, on DStv channel 147. VIA is an Afrikaans entertainment lifestyle channel and starts with 22 new programmes on food and diets, relationships and style. This 24-hour lifestyle channel is another innovation by Media24 to create content and products for Afrikaans audiences across diverse Media24 platforms.
“…we are delighted to include TV as another platform where we can serve our audiences working closely with our magazines, newspapers and digital platforms,” said Weideman.
With so many publishing and media companies coming under intense pressure because of their failure to keep up with ever-changing consumer demand and the burden of the economy, Media24 has proven itself to be an industry leader, successfully integrating print, digital and video. As long as this innovative business continues to invest in the future of journalism; whether it be blogging, video reporting, digital publications or 140 character communication; then it has the perfect base to launch itself and its customers into a bright and extremely well connected future.