Web publishing technologies have been very disruptive to newspaper business models by creating numerous challenges for the industry. It started with the drop in advertising revenue through free classified ad sites for jobs and products like Monster.com, Craig’s List, EBay and Kijiji. Players in the news industry have seen a TV station become an online news publisher, newspapers providing online video like TV, magazine publishers now publishing daily with video and tech companies producing news sites.

This has created a hyper-competitive online media landscape during this digital transformation of the media industry. I predict that we will see consolidation in the industry as the market can only support so many players in the Canadian market, as digital adoption starts to level out. We are already seeing some of those signs now in the marketplace.

The demise of print that has been predicted has not unfolded. I guess tech gurus can be wrong too or make exaggerated predictions to get headlines as "News" as a medium is as strong as ever according to this Newspapers Canada 2014 report (below). It shows that 86% of Canadians read a newspaper in print or digital every week, which has stayed the same over the past two years. How news is consumed today through traditional media like TV, radio and print methods has changed. Today 30% read news digitally with 50% of digital consumption via a tablet or smartphone, that means 70% still prefer print. 

According to NADbank in their 2013 report cumulative weekly newspaper audience is growing slightly (5.4% overall growth since 2009) with print staying about the same (0.2% decline since 2009) with growth attributed to digital. Cross platform usage saw 76% of website readers also read a printed edition of a newspaper. NADBank predicts that tablets will be the preferred everyday digital device long-term.

In the same report from Newspapers Canada they look at ad effectiveness vs. other media to demonstrate that newspapers still work as part of the media plan. Historically, this is why newspaper advertising was so effective and it looks like it is still true today. The effectiveness of the internet versus other media suggest that digital has one of the lowest levels of engagement. The numbers suggest that digital perhaps is now losing its luster as it matures with consumers and perhaps their share of people's time has peaked.

What the newspaper industry has yet to determine is how to monetize digital eyeballs after giving it away for free for so long. The newspaper pay wall that has been used the past two years with a 10 article free sample is now the new norm for some newspapers. The ad marketplace for digital is a buyer’s market with an oversupply scenario that generates low CPMs and ROI for publishers.

Newspapers Canada produces an annual conference INK+BEYOND that takes a look at issues and challenges facing newspapers, and showcases the latest innovations used by newspapers around the world. This event was in Charlottetown, PEI, on May 28-30 in 2014 and in 2015 it will be held in Toronto. I put together a roundtable of vendors that were pitching their wares at the event this year to share in a Part 2 of Tech Notes this summer. The vendors fall primarily in three general categories content creation, content production and ad sales support.
 
INK+BEYOND 2014  Vendor Roundtable
 
Affinity Express
Product: Advertising and media solutions
As the SMB marketing supply chain company, Affinity Express is the leading white label creative and production partner for companies that serve the marketing and advertising needs of SMBs. Its services are offered to tens of millions of companies under the guise of some of the most well-known media, internet and retail brands.
Affinity offers SMBs custom print, digital marketing and advertising services—including print ads, logos, websites, video ads and more—without adding fixed costs. Grow your digital ad business, using Affinity to create and traffic the ads. Drive new profitable revenue and improve advertiser loyalty with Affinity Express.
Website: www.affinityexpress.com
Kelly Glass: kellyg@affinityexpress.com, (847) 930-3205
 

BBM Analytics
Product: Newspaper Ad Tracking Service
In the increasingly competitive newspaper landscape, get a better understanding of who is advertising and your share of voice. BBM Analytics’ newspaper ad tracking services provides you with comprehensive and timely competitive intelligence at your fingertips. All advertising activity is tracked in daily newspapers in 7 key markets across Canada. The online database is easy to access and quickly identifies strategy, volume, messaging and placement of existing advertisers and more importantly who is not advertising. Contact us to find out how to use the service for new business development, smarter negotiations/selling or as value add for clients.
Website: www.bbmanalytics.ca
Michael Abraham, mabraham@bbmanalytics.ca,  416 847 2054
 

Business Wire       
Product: Commercial news distribution           
Business Wire, a Berkshire Hathaway company, is the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure. Investor relations, public relations, public policy and marketing professionals rely on Business Wire to accurately distribute market-moving news and multimedia, host online newsrooms and IR websites, build content marketing platforms, generate social engagements and provide audience analysis that improves interaction with specified target markets.
 
Founded in 1961, Business Wire is a trusted source for news organizations, journalists, investment professionals and regulatory authorities, delivering news directly into editorial systems and leading online news sources via its multi-patented simultaneous NX Network. Business Wire has 32 offices worldwide to securely meet the varying needs of communications professionals and news consumers.
Website: www.businesswire.ca
Matthew Allinson, matthew.allinson@businesswire.com, (206) 405-4000
 

Fundata Canada
Product: Canadian Investment Funds database
In all areas of our business, from raw financial data feeds to hosted web solutions, our goal is to develop strong, long term client relationships and to become a trusted business partner for our clients. Fundata offers a variety of products and services that solve problems in a number of industries and businesses. Whether custom or white labeled, Fundata’s team of professionals can customized either solution to client specifications. The information we provide currently reaches over 80,000 financial advisors, millions of investors, and scores of institutions every day through our network of newspapers, web and corporate clients across North America.
Website: www.fundata.com
Brooke Biscoe, brooke.biscoe@fundata.com, (416) 445-7445
 

Libercus
Product: Cloud-based publishing CMS for media companies
Libercus is an efficient, economical and comprehensive cloud-based news publishing CMS designed for today’s digital and print media realties. Print, web, mobile, video, social media and e-Editions are published from one streamlined, modern platform. Journalists, editors, and production personnel work in Libercus. Libercus streamlines costs, uncertainty and vendor bloat impeding media companies in an era requiring innovation and speed.
 

Libercus is a single system, user interface and database. Browser-based and cloud-architected, Libercus is not a legacy CMS with multiple products, databases, and interfaces. It eliminates significant infrastructure and software expense. Content is delivered to multiple channels efficiently. Libercus delivers workflow flexibility and is cost effective in terms of total cost of ownership.
Website: www.libercus.com
Steve Lett,  steve.lett@libercus.com, (847) 274-0490
 
 
Metro Creative Graphics, Inc.
Product: Creative & Ad Development Solutions for Publishers
Metro Creative Graphics, Inc. helps today's media companies expand ad revenue by providing advertising, creative and editorial solutions for optimizing their print, online, mobile and social products. With an unparalleled dedication to providing the finest resources available for ready-to-use images, spec ads, sales ideas, stock-quality photos, logos/trademarks, auto manufacturer photos, marketing/sales materials, copyright-free editorial features, fully-templated print and online sections, and groundbreaking digital ad development tools -- including the new Metro interactive Ad Designer (MiAD) Mobile App for sales reps -- Metro services the creative and sales needs of today’s media companies.
Website: metrocreativeconnection.com
Jennifer Steiner, jsteiner@metro-email.com, (800) 223-1600
 

Myles Mellor Theme Crosswords
Product: Crosswords and puzzles         
Myles Mellor crosswords offers all types of crosswords, easy, medium, Sunday size and very large. You can also order sudokus, word searches, cryptograms, diagramless crosswords and anagrams (a form of jumble). Currently servicing over 90 community newspapers with syndicated content, Myles' service is personal and economical. The company also offers interactive crosswords, sudokus and word searches that can be solved online. Myles also writes theme crosswords for advertisers, a proven money-maker for newspapers using this service. 
Website: www.themecrosswords.com 
Myles Mellor, themecrosswords@gmail.com, (818) 890-8065
 

NEWSCYCLE Solutions
Product: Content, advertising, circulation and audience engagement
NEWSCYCLE Solutions - which was formed by the combination of DTI, SAXOTECH, MediaSpan, and the Atex AdBase business - delivers the most complete range of software solutions for the global news media industry, including news content management, advertising, circulation, audience, and analytics. NEWSCYCLE Solutions is a trusted technology partner serving more than 750 media companies with 8,000 properties across more than 30 countries on 6 continents. The company is headquartered in Bloomington, MN and has U.S. offices in Florida, Michigan and Utah; with international offices in Canada, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
Website: www.newscyclesolutions.com
Rob Dumas, rdumas@mediaspangroup.com, (734) 887-4400
 

News-Net
Product: Ad management  & Digital Production Software
News-Net provides first-class software solutions, programming, integration and development to over 1,800 newspapers throughout North America. A trusted supplier to the publishing industry since its inception over 30 years ago, News-Net develops affordable cost-cutting and leading-edge technologies for Ad Management, CRM, Production Workflow, Pagination,Tearsheets and more. We offer complete services from consultation, installation, configuration, set-up & user training. News- Net has the right combination of professionals and expertise for delivering quality integrated solutions on time and in budget)
Website:  www.news-net.ca
Khymn Glover, khymn@news-net.ca, (905) 844-0524
 

Newspaper Toolbox
Product: Revenue-generating tools and ideas           
With over 700 subscriber clients in Canada, the USA, New-Zealand and Australia, Newspaper Toolbox is the premier sales building tool available to the newspaper industry today. Created by a professional team with more than 25 years of experience in the media industry, Newspaper Toolbox offers a wealth of ready-to-sell share pages, an online sales calendar, ready-to-sell concepts, reader contest concepts, special section packages, an extensive editorial library, money making ideas and a whole lot more. In essence, it is the best idea generator for revenues in small and medium size newspaper markets. With a brand new website, extensive archives and the launch of new services such as EZ Contest and EZ Newzsite, Newspaper Toolbox is helping publishers follow the money trail.           
Website: www.newspapertoolbox.com
Candide Grégoire, candide@newspapertoolbox.com, (877) 444-4034
 

Newzware/ICANON
Product: Publishing software and service solutions
Newzware Business System Software - The greatest performance value in the new media industry. Circulation, Display & Classified Advertising, Financial, Editorial and Ad Production tools are deployed separately or integrated as a complete publishing business environment. ICANON Services insure a legacy of performance with unequaled personal customer support. Stable ownership since 1990, innovative solutions that keep pace with technology demands and cost effective ownership including free license upgrades make Newzware the smartest decision you can make. Installation can be either premise based or hosted as a cloud resource in our secure datacenters. Your unique product deserves the flexibility of Newzware.
Website: www.newzware.com
Gary Markle, gmarkle@icanon.com, (215) 822-5519
 

PressReader
Product: Digital distribution and publishing solutions
PressReader, a Vancouver-based company, is the global leader in multi-channel, cross-platform content distribution and monetisation, and the chosen partner of more than 4,000 publishers from over 100 countries.
 
PressReader connects local, national and international newspaper and magazine publishers with readers around the globe and across all platforms including web, iOS, Android, Android for Amazon, Windows 8 and BlackBerry 10. It offers the world’s most engaging reading experience to millions of readers and can be found in thousands of libraries, hotels, airlines, corporate and government offices, and aboard cruise ships worldwide, providing publishers with new revenue opportunities and increased global circulation.
 
PressReader Technology, a fully customizable digital publishing solution, helps publishers of all sizes and media types digitise and monetise their content on all devices and platforms. This award-winning solution offers an enhanced digital edition experience with its intelligent multimedia features and functionality.
Website: about.pressreader.com 
Nikolay Malyarov, publishing@pressreader.com, (604) 278-4604
 

Research and Analysis of Media
Product: Media Research for Advertisers
In today’s competitive marketplace, advertisers demand solutions that provide quick and accurate results regardless of media choice.  Knowing what your customers think is exceptionally valuable. Our role at RAM is to help you understand how the market and your audience connects with your brand.
At RAM we provide unique and strategic solutions with relevant insights to help increase our clients’ revenue, grow their audience and give them a clear understanding of the markets in which they operate, be it local, regional or national. Everybody Wins.
Website: www.rampanel.com
Ryan Busch, ryan.busch@rampanel.com, (904) 206 2160