By Marcelo Duran
Associate Editor
For newspapers, social networking is slowly becoming the little user-generated content feature that could.
This was evident in the Newspaper Association of America’s June report, “Engaging Users: User-Generated Content and Tools for Newspapers,” which found that interest in newspaper-based social networking features was high among respondents who have used social networking in the past. About 45 percent of those respondents indicated interest in reading or posting reviews on local businesses and services.
Yet while many newspapers are still trying to determine how to package social networking, one paper, The Bakersfield Californian, earlier this year marked its third anniversary as a social networking pioneer.
The newspaper’s Bakotopia, introduced in early 2005, came about as a preemptive strike against sites like Craigslist before they hit the Bakersfield area, said Dan Pacheco, The Californian’s senior manager of digital products.
Outside of newspaper
“At the time, the company identified several different audiences and I think we were one of the first newspapers in the U.S. to come out and say we need to grow audience one way or another and it doesn’t have to be through the core newspaper,” he said. “The idea was that Bakotopia would be a center for anything about the alternative Bakersfield.”
Six months after Bakotopia’s launch, the paper began adding more features to the site, including the ability for users to create profiles, upload photos and list events, all of which struck a chord with the local music scene.
“We had lots of bands show up to post their events and once we started having bands in our community we started thinking the bands should have profiles and add their music,” Pacheco said.
Bands post songs on the site through a feature dubbed Bakotunes and content is made available under a creative commons license. Users can listen, download and use the music in any way as long as it’s not for commercial purposes.
Pacheco said Bakotopia’s impact in the local music community was further cemented after a radio station provided The Californian with 46 radio spots as part of a co-promotion between the station and the paper.
The Californian invited bands to fill the spots. It received a lot of response and Pacheco said that a number of groups even created original songs about the Web site. The songs produced for the radio spots can be found at www.bakotopia.com/home/user/bakotopianews.
“What that experience showed us is that we were getting something from the musicians being on our site and the bands were getting exposure from us by getting on local radio,” he said.
Thousands of users
Californian Vice President of Audience Development Mary Lou Fulton said that Bakotopia now has more than 500 band profiles and 5,000 registered users on the site.
“You can tell from these numbers that we have become the local place for bands to connect with their fans and post their music. That has helped with our marketing because bands are out there in the community performing all the time and letting people know that they are on Bakotopia and that (fans) should check it out,” she said.
Fulton said newspapers should capitalize on aiming their social networking sites at already established special interest groups rather than attempt to create communities from scratch.
Over the past three years, The Californian added social networking features to all 11 of its Web sites and has seen how users are exploiting the tools on each of the sites, Fulton said.
Case in point: The paper’s Bakersfield.com flagship site, which attracts more than 2,000 bloggers. “What’s fascinating is that we put the exact tools on a Web site focused on a particular community with a different product manager and get completely different results,” she said.
Bakoproducts
Most important, The Californian found ways to leverage the popularity generated by its myriad sites and experiment with ways to earn some money.
To that end, the paper released a CD compilation of the best of Bakotunes, showcasing local bands.
“They sold it for $5. It didn’t make a lot of money but paid for the CD,” Pacheco said. “Even though (readers) listen to Bakotunes on the Web site, they loved to get the CD when it was offered at events.”
The publisher rolled out a bi-weekly magazine as well, which is also called Bakotopia, and contains user-generated stories, photos and other content generated on the site.
The popularity of the ink-and-paper publication indicates to Pacheco that younger people remain interested in print.
“They use the Web site and magazine together, a hybrid experience, because they know the magazine includes posted content and know that if they are involved in the community online it increases the chances their content will show up in the magazine,” he said. “They love that idea because their content, pictures or profiles are out there at all the local clubs and they become a celebrity.”
Monday, September 1, 2008
4 questions with Aurelio Maruggi
Aurelio Maruggi, vice president and general manager of inkjet high-speed production solutions for Hewlett-Packard, spoke to Newspapers & Technology about HP’s digital print offerings for the newspaper industry and whether the technology is really ready to deliver.
How is HP approaching newspapers and how do you see HP fitting into this industry?
It is a key focus for HP to engage with the industry to understand pain points and trends. The conversations we have participated in with newspaper experts to date have helped us shape the product strategy in a way that can effectively address what the industry requires.
The newspaper industry is seeing some trends and pressure in common with other graphic arts industries, such as rising input costs, demand for more personalized and targeted information and growing digital sophistication. The newspaper industry is in a unique position by virtue of the fact that it embraced the Web at an early stage, but there has been to date very limited connectivity between traditional print and the digital world. We believe our solutions reflect a significant step forward to enable a connection for the newspaper industry.
According to HP, what are the benefits of drop-on-demand vs. continuous inkjet technology for newspapers?
The approach that we have taken to address the analog-to-digital transformation for the newspaper industry has been to a certain extent technology-agnostic. We have focused on meeting the newspaper publisher’s specific requirements, and have learned that there is a need for a digital printing platform that provides the best combination of format size, productivity, print quality and economics. We have identified the HP Scalable Printing Technology (SPT) as a great fit for these needs. This inkjet technology has been specifically developed to remove the limitations in width and speed of other technologies, and it is used on a broad portfolio of HP products spanning from high-end office products to photo kiosks. It delivers high quality at a level of economics that benefit of the large scale of HP manufacturing.
In addition to these benefits, HP SPT offers a unique “bonding agent” technology that allows newspaper publishers to continue to use their own paper, removing one the major limiting factors of other digital printing technologies.
What trends do you see in digital printing for newspapers as far as news products, niche products, etc? What new technologies and features do you see emerging in digital presses that could potentially benefit newspapers?
The newspaper industry has — at the same time — an opportunity and a threat coming from the Web. Readers’ demand for more up-to-date and relevant content is growing at a fast pace and it is causing a shift in behaviors, making online more relevant. Advertisers are seeing this trend and adjusting their spending shares accordingly. For example, we’ve seen research noting that, for the 2005-2009 time period, online advertising is growing at a rate close to 30 percent, while newspapers’ advertising growth is in the low single digits.
The availability of a production infrastructure based on a distributed network of digital presses will allow the newspaper industry to shorten the time to deliver news and even customize the kind of news delivered to each individual reader. This may eventually result in an inversion of the readership trends and make newspapers a preferred advertising medium.
The newspaper industry has been talking for many years about the potential benefits of digital printing. Is the technology really ready to deliver these benefits?
Digital printing technology has been used so far by the newspaper industry in very niche applications because of the limitations in format size, productivity, print quality and economics. The HP Inkjet Web Press represents a breakthrough that we believe has the potential to start a “virtuous cycle” in this industry. Assuming that the price and performance benefits of digital continue on their current trajectory, digital holds the potential to transform the newspaper industry much as digital cameras did for photography.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
U.K.’s Guardian reaches U.S. with digital edition
Although the introduction of color is a relatively new addition to digital newspaper printing, some dailies have offered black-and-white digital editions for years.
Case in point, Carlstadt, N.J.-based Global Document Solutions, which since 2003 has been printing 300 full broadsheet black-and-white copies of The Guardian nightly on an Oce 9210 wide format machine.
Global Document Solutions also operates facilities in New York City and Hayward, Calif.
“We print it every night,” said John Slaney, chief operating officer. “We print the full broadsheet so we’re really duplicating what it looks like in the U.K.”
The copies are picked up and distributed around New York City.
“People are getting that day’s paper instead of yesterday’s paper,” Slaney said.
Slaney said there was a large demand for The Guardian out of market and he is also working with some other newspapers that are interested in following The Guardian’s model.
He said some newspapers also want to print newspapers for distribution on planes. Los Angeles-based O’Neil Data Systems already prints a number of Australian newspapers for distribution on Qantas Airlines flights using Oce machines.
Slaney said he can see definite value for newspapers adopting these models.
“This gives flexibility for targeted ads,” he said. “ Ads running in London could be redirected here so that they are more pertinent and I think there is tremendous value in that — targeted marketing and messaging and at a smaller size run.”
Global Document Solutions worked with a mill to create the blend of newsprint that allows it to print newspapers on the digital press. The shop uses Hunkeler finishing equipment.
— Tara McMeekin
Case in point, Carlstadt, N.J.-based Global Document Solutions, which since 2003 has been printing 300 full broadsheet black-and-white copies of The Guardian nightly on an Oce 9210 wide format machine.
Global Document Solutions also operates facilities in New York City and Hayward, Calif.
“We print it every night,” said John Slaney, chief operating officer. “We print the full broadsheet so we’re really duplicating what it looks like in the U.K.”
The copies are picked up and distributed around New York City.
“People are getting that day’s paper instead of yesterday’s paper,” Slaney said.
Slaney said there was a large demand for The Guardian out of market and he is also working with some other newspapers that are interested in following The Guardian’s model.
He said some newspapers also want to print newspapers for distribution on planes. Los Angeles-based O’Neil Data Systems already prints a number of Australian newspapers for distribution on Qantas Airlines flights using Oce machines.
Slaney said he can see definite value for newspapers adopting these models.
“This gives flexibility for targeted ads,” he said. “ Ads running in London could be redirected here so that they are more pertinent and I think there is tremendous value in that — targeted marketing and messaging and at a smaller size run.”
Global Document Solutions worked with a mill to create the blend of newsprint that allows it to print newspapers on the digital press. The shop uses Hunkeler finishing equipment.
— Tara McMeekin
Digital presses stream into Drupa 2008
By Mary L. Van Meter
Publisher
DUSSELDORF, Germany — One of the hottest trends emerging at last month’s Drupa 2008 was the explosion of short-run digital presses aimed at newspapers.
No fewer than a half-dozen vendors launched web-fed digital presses specifically engineered to serve newspapers’ print-on-demand needs.
The goal: to allow papers to meet the demand placed by business travelers and other consumers that want to pick up a newspaper at remote locations like airports and hotels. That segment, in conjunction with the increase of niche publications, short-run materials and other periodicals with less than 15,000 circulation, dovetails perfectly with the advent of these digital presses, observers say.
The web-fed presses showcased at drupa have throughputs, finishing systems and printing features that transcend the machines now aimed at transactional promotional printing.
To that end, they offer full color, increased speeds — in some cases up to 3,000 40-page newspapers per hour, about triple the output currently available — the ability to produce shorter press runs economically, and capabilities that permit the production of such products as micro-zoned materials and personalized inserts.
Most of the web-fed digital presses at Drupa were configured as continuous-feed, single-pass for double-side printing. They were also available with turner bars similar to those found within newspaper offset printing operations.
While some vendors, such as Oce, Nipson, Agfa, Hewlett Packard and Screen touted their grayscale drop-on-demand systems. Kodak offered three platforms, continuous inkjet, drop-on-demand and continuous stream.
All the companies said they are working with newspapers to test the machines. One vendor, Screen, showcased its Truepress Jet 520 in conjunction with finishing systems vendor Hunkeler and software vendor Newsworld to print live editions of several newspapers, including USA Today, during the show.
Then there was Xerox, which displayed its 980 Color Continuous Feed machine, which will be introduced later this year. The press uses hot flash-fusing LED technology common throughout Xerox’ product lines. With a resolution of 600 dots per inch, the press can produce up to 980 pages per minute and will be available later this year, according to Wendy K. Apton, Xerox’ assistant technology program manager.
A rundown of what was offered at the show (in alphabetical order):
Agfa
Agfa, which entered the digital press market in 2004 when it acquired Barco’s Dotrix technology, hasn’t aggressively marketed Dotrix to newspapers. But that is all about to change, said Kurt Smits, who heads Agfa’s strategic business development of global accounts. It begins with the Dotrix DGNews, which the company unveiled at drupa.
Photos: Newspapers & Technology Agfa press, and Kurt Smits, Agfa’s strategic business development global accounts.
The machine, available now, employs a grayscale drop-on-demand technology and uses a single-pass inkjet color engine.
“The press can print not only standard newspaper sizes on standard newsprint but also offers numerous financial applications that could incorporate personalized and customized content,” Smits said. The machine has an output capacity of 78 feet per minute and can print products up to 24.8 inches wide. (For more information about the DGNews.
Hewlett Packard
HP introduced its HP Inkjet Web Press, available with a scalable web width of up to 30 inches for production of full-broadsheet newspaper formats or multiple-up documents. The drop-on-demand press, using HP’s Edgeline thermal inkjet technology, can print up to 200 2-sided broadsheets per minute (Nordic format, 29.92 inches wide by 22.75 inches tall) with a resolution of 600 dpi.
Aurelio Maruggi, vice president and general manager of HP’s inkjet high-speed production solutions, said a U.S. newspaper plans to test the 30-inch version of the machine later this year, producing 14 zoned versions every day. The press will be commercially available during the second half of 2009, Maruggi said.
Hewlett Packard unveiled its Inkjet Web Press, which will be tested by an undisclosed U.S. newspaper.
Kodak
Kodak showcased is Versamark VT 3000, a continuous-feed, single-pass press with continuous 4-color inkjet print technology. The VT 3000 is a scalable press that can handle web widths ranging from 8 inches to 20 inches and is offered in either 300-by-300 or 300-by-600 dpi resolution. Printing speeds vary per model but the VT 3000 can reach a maximum speed of 500 feet, or 2,040 pages, per minute. The press can support monochrome, spot and process color printing on the same platform, Kodak said.
Antonio M. Perez, chairman and chief executive officer, Kodak.
Nipson
Nipson Printing Systems unveiled its new generation of print heads for the VaryPress 200 and VaryPress 500 web-fed digital presses. Both presses use Nipson’s magnetographic imaging and flash fusing processes. The technology uses a magnetic print drum combined with flash toner fusing. The cold flash fusing system fuses the toner without heating the substrate, so the web does not shrink, warp, distort, or dry out, according to Martine Berger, marketing communications manager for Nipson.
The VaryPress 200 runs up to 295 feet per minute on a printable width of 18.45 inches (web width of 20.5 inches) with 600 dpi print quality. The VaryPress 500 has production speeds of up to 492 feet-per-minute.
Oce
Oce, whose black-and-white digital presses are used by several newspapers, introduced three new models of its full process-color JetStream machines.
The JetStream 750, 1500 and 3000 systems join the 2200 and 1100 machines Oce formally introduced last December. All employ Oce’s DigiDot piezo-based drop-on-demand printing platform.
The 750, with a 328-foot-per-minute capacity, is an entry-level machine, said Michael R. Polin, product manager.
The JetStream 1500 produces 1,300 full-color A4-size images per minute in two-up duplex format while the 3000 has an output capacity of 656 feet-per-minute with a resolution of 480-by-600 dpi.
Michael R. Polin, product manager, Oce.
Wendy K. Apton, assistant technology program manager at Xerox.
Screen
The Screen TruePress Jet 520 variable printing system blends grayscale drop-on-demand technology with Epson’s latest multitone piezo drop-on-demand inkjet print head. The press uses water-based dye inks, water-based pigment inks and four process colors (CMYK). The machine can print up to 210 feet per minute with a resolution of 720-by-360 dpi. Page widths run from 6.5 inches to 20.47 inches, with a cutoff of 40 inches.
“Print-on-demand will bring new business opportunities to newspapers,” said Seiichi Nakao, Screen’s manager of sales and marketing. “It will eliminate the financial cost and environmental impact of air-freighting newspapers while ensuring same-day availability no matter where their readers might be,” he said.
Seiichi Nakao, manager of sales and marketing, Screen.
Publisher
DUSSELDORF, Germany — One of the hottest trends emerging at last month’s Drupa 2008 was the explosion of short-run digital presses aimed at newspapers.
No fewer than a half-dozen vendors launched web-fed digital presses specifically engineered to serve newspapers’ print-on-demand needs.
The goal: to allow papers to meet the demand placed by business travelers and other consumers that want to pick up a newspaper at remote locations like airports and hotels. That segment, in conjunction with the increase of niche publications, short-run materials and other periodicals with less than 15,000 circulation, dovetails perfectly with the advent of these digital presses, observers say.
The web-fed presses showcased at drupa have throughputs, finishing systems and printing features that transcend the machines now aimed at transactional promotional printing.
To that end, they offer full color, increased speeds — in some cases up to 3,000 40-page newspapers per hour, about triple the output currently available — the ability to produce shorter press runs economically, and capabilities that permit the production of such products as micro-zoned materials and personalized inserts.
Most of the web-fed digital presses at Drupa were configured as continuous-feed, single-pass for double-side printing. They were also available with turner bars similar to those found within newspaper offset printing operations.
While some vendors, such as Oce, Nipson, Agfa, Hewlett Packard and Screen touted their grayscale drop-on-demand systems. Kodak offered three platforms, continuous inkjet, drop-on-demand and continuous stream.
All the companies said they are working with newspapers to test the machines. One vendor, Screen, showcased its Truepress Jet 520 in conjunction with finishing systems vendor Hunkeler and software vendor Newsworld to print live editions of several newspapers, including USA Today, during the show.
Then there was Xerox, which displayed its 980 Color Continuous Feed machine, which will be introduced later this year. The press uses hot flash-fusing LED technology common throughout Xerox’ product lines. With a resolution of 600 dots per inch, the press can produce up to 980 pages per minute and will be available later this year, according to Wendy K. Apton, Xerox’ assistant technology program manager.
A rundown of what was offered at the show (in alphabetical order):
Agfa
Agfa, which entered the digital press market in 2004 when it acquired Barco’s Dotrix technology, hasn’t aggressively marketed Dotrix to newspapers. But that is all about to change, said Kurt Smits, who heads Agfa’s strategic business development of global accounts. It begins with the Dotrix DGNews, which the company unveiled at drupa.
Photos: Newspapers & Technology Agfa press, and Kurt Smits, Agfa’s strategic business development global accounts.
The machine, available now, employs a grayscale drop-on-demand technology and uses a single-pass inkjet color engine.
“The press can print not only standard newspaper sizes on standard newsprint but also offers numerous financial applications that could incorporate personalized and customized content,” Smits said. The machine has an output capacity of 78 feet per minute and can print products up to 24.8 inches wide. (For more information about the DGNews.
Hewlett Packard
HP introduced its HP Inkjet Web Press, available with a scalable web width of up to 30 inches for production of full-broadsheet newspaper formats or multiple-up documents. The drop-on-demand press, using HP’s Edgeline thermal inkjet technology, can print up to 200 2-sided broadsheets per minute (Nordic format, 29.92 inches wide by 22.75 inches tall) with a resolution of 600 dpi.
Aurelio Maruggi, vice president and general manager of HP’s inkjet high-speed production solutions, said a U.S. newspaper plans to test the 30-inch version of the machine later this year, producing 14 zoned versions every day. The press will be commercially available during the second half of 2009, Maruggi said.
Hewlett Packard unveiled its Inkjet Web Press, which will be tested by an undisclosed U.S. newspaper.
Kodak
Kodak showcased is Versamark VT 3000, a continuous-feed, single-pass press with continuous 4-color inkjet print technology. The VT 3000 is a scalable press that can handle web widths ranging from 8 inches to 20 inches and is offered in either 300-by-300 or 300-by-600 dpi resolution. Printing speeds vary per model but the VT 3000 can reach a maximum speed of 500 feet, or 2,040 pages, per minute. The press can support monochrome, spot and process color printing on the same platform, Kodak said.
Antonio M. Perez, chairman and chief executive officer, Kodak.Nipson
Nipson Printing Systems unveiled its new generation of print heads for the VaryPress 200 and VaryPress 500 web-fed digital presses. Both presses use Nipson’s magnetographic imaging and flash fusing processes. The technology uses a magnetic print drum combined with flash toner fusing. The cold flash fusing system fuses the toner without heating the substrate, so the web does not shrink, warp, distort, or dry out, according to Martine Berger, marketing communications manager for Nipson.
The VaryPress 200 runs up to 295 feet per minute on a printable width of 18.45 inches (web width of 20.5 inches) with 600 dpi print quality. The VaryPress 500 has production speeds of up to 492 feet-per-minute.
Oce
Oce, whose black-and-white digital presses are used by several newspapers, introduced three new models of its full process-color JetStream machines.
The JetStream 750, 1500 and 3000 systems join the 2200 and 1100 machines Oce formally introduced last December. All employ Oce’s DigiDot piezo-based drop-on-demand printing platform.
The 750, with a 328-foot-per-minute capacity, is an entry-level machine, said Michael R. Polin, product manager.
The JetStream 1500 produces 1,300 full-color A4-size images per minute in two-up duplex format while the 3000 has an output capacity of 656 feet-per-minute with a resolution of 480-by-600 dpi.
Michael R. Polin, product manager, Oce.
Wendy K. Apton, assistant technology program manager at Xerox.Screen
The Screen TruePress Jet 520 variable printing system blends grayscale drop-on-demand technology with Epson’s latest multitone piezo drop-on-demand inkjet print head. The press uses water-based dye inks, water-based pigment inks and four process colors (CMYK). The machine can print up to 210 feet per minute with a resolution of 720-by-360 dpi. Page widths run from 6.5 inches to 20.47 inches, with a cutoff of 40 inches.
“Print-on-demand will bring new business opportunities to newspapers,” said Seiichi Nakao, Screen’s manager of sales and marketing. “It will eliminate the financial cost and environmental impact of air-freighting newspapers while ensuring same-day availability no matter where their readers might be,” he said.
Seiichi Nakao, manager of sales and marketing, Screen.
Agfa readies to tackle papers with DGNews digital press
At drupa 2008 Agfa Graphics introduced the Dotrix DGNews, a digital inkjet press for short-run printing. The new press is based on Agfa’s Dotrix Transcolor designed for transactional and transpromotional printing. The technology inside is similar to the Dotrix Modular, which was designed to print on a variety of substrates for industrial applications — folding cartons, packaging, displays, and plastic bags. To construct the DGNews press, Agfa took the duplexing capability from the Dotrix Transcolor and primed it for newsprint, added a sheet cutter, a drum collator and a double folding unit for single and double folds to produce fully finished tabloid or broadsheet newspapers.
Newspapers & Technology talked with Richard Barham, Agfa Graphics’ vice president for inkjet, worldwide about the company’s plans regarding digital printing in the newspaper market.
Photo: Agfa
Agfa’s Richard Barham stands next to an Agfa Modular press at last
month’s drupa.
N&T: What is the market potential for short-run digital printing?
Barham: We see the short-run digital printing taking hold in three phases.
First, we see newspaper distributors as the early adopters of this technology. A system such as the Dotrix DGNews will allow them to distribute precise circulation for large newspapers in remote locations. Already, there are two audiences — professionals who are living abroad and want to see the news from their native country. We call this the roaming market. A French broker, for example, working in New York on Wall Street would be able to get an 8:30 edition of Les Echos instead of having to wait until late afternoon, which is currently the case.
The other audience is tourists. Europeans who may be vacationing in Miami Beach will be able to get the early edition of their home newspaper each morning.
Distributors will be able to print for their newspaper clients locally, so the newspaper can reach those markets on a more timely basis with minimal waste. With the Dotrix DGNews they can print the exact quantity when needed with comparable quality to the original. They can even print the same size; there is no need to shrink the titles since the Dotrix DGNews can handle a full broadsheet.
A major advantage for the newspaper will be the ability to capture local advertisers. So Coppertone will be able to reach a very finely tuned tourist trade as well as its larger mass market. The first installation of the DGNews is taking place this summer at a distributor who caters to this very market — the firm delivers native newspapers to tourists traveling abroad.
We see the second wave of digital printing occurring as the capabilities of the technology increase. With faster speeds newspapers will be able to reach out to secondary markets with shorter, highly efficient editions. They will be able to deliver more targeted audiences to their advertisers. Community papers are a typical example of this case.
In the third wave, those newspapers will be able to personalize newspapers — that is, deliver very specific types of content by demographic. For example, newspapers going to a college campus will include advertising inserts geared specifically to 18 to 21 year olds. They’ll be able to deliver custom titles to markets they are currently unable to reach.
N&T: Are you describing a new business model for newspapers?
Barham: I would describe it more as a new opportunity for distributors where remote delivery is a requirement. Then as the technology moves forward, newspapers will adopt the technology to serve their local markets on a much more targeted basis. It isn’t necessarily changing the model, it is broadening it.
N&T: Can you provide a cost model comparison?
Barham: Newspapers typically use 2,000 or 3,000 tabloid copies, depending on the operation, as the breakeven point for offset printing. With the Dotrix DGNews you can print as few as one to 50 copies and still be competitive. The cost per copy is the same whether you print one or 3000 copies.
We are working on increasing the speed of the DGNews substantially over the course of the next year, with a goal toward bringing the cost per copy down even further.
N&T: If you are selling to distributors, who sells and services the system?
Barham: Agfa handles sales, installation, training and service.
N&T: How is color management handled?
Barham: Agfa integrates our ColorTune color management suite with the Dotrix DGNews. This is the technology we use in our proofing systems that allows us to match any output profile. Color is accurate. UV inks also allow a much wider color gamut for better color matching, especially important for matching special color.
N&T: How does the DGNews integrate into the workflow?
Barham: Very easily with our Apogee X workflow software. The DGNews was designed to integrate easily into any workflow — Agfa or non-Agfa.
Newspapers & Technology talked with Richard Barham, Agfa Graphics’ vice president for inkjet, worldwide about the company’s plans regarding digital printing in the newspaper market.
Photo: AgfaAgfa’s Richard Barham stands next to an Agfa Modular press at last
month’s drupa.
N&T: What is the market potential for short-run digital printing?
Barham: We see the short-run digital printing taking hold in three phases.
First, we see newspaper distributors as the early adopters of this technology. A system such as the Dotrix DGNews will allow them to distribute precise circulation for large newspapers in remote locations. Already, there are two audiences — professionals who are living abroad and want to see the news from their native country. We call this the roaming market. A French broker, for example, working in New York on Wall Street would be able to get an 8:30 edition of Les Echos instead of having to wait until late afternoon, which is currently the case.
The other audience is tourists. Europeans who may be vacationing in Miami Beach will be able to get the early edition of their home newspaper each morning.
Distributors will be able to print for their newspaper clients locally, so the newspaper can reach those markets on a more timely basis with minimal waste. With the Dotrix DGNews they can print the exact quantity when needed with comparable quality to the original. They can even print the same size; there is no need to shrink the titles since the Dotrix DGNews can handle a full broadsheet.
A major advantage for the newspaper will be the ability to capture local advertisers. So Coppertone will be able to reach a very finely tuned tourist trade as well as its larger mass market. The first installation of the DGNews is taking place this summer at a distributor who caters to this very market — the firm delivers native newspapers to tourists traveling abroad.
We see the second wave of digital printing occurring as the capabilities of the technology increase. With faster speeds newspapers will be able to reach out to secondary markets with shorter, highly efficient editions. They will be able to deliver more targeted audiences to their advertisers. Community papers are a typical example of this case.
In the third wave, those newspapers will be able to personalize newspapers — that is, deliver very specific types of content by demographic. For example, newspapers going to a college campus will include advertising inserts geared specifically to 18 to 21 year olds. They’ll be able to deliver custom titles to markets they are currently unable to reach.
N&T: Are you describing a new business model for newspapers?
Barham: I would describe it more as a new opportunity for distributors where remote delivery is a requirement. Then as the technology moves forward, newspapers will adopt the technology to serve their local markets on a much more targeted basis. It isn’t necessarily changing the model, it is broadening it.
N&T: Can you provide a cost model comparison?
Barham: Newspapers typically use 2,000 or 3,000 tabloid copies, depending on the operation, as the breakeven point for offset printing. With the Dotrix DGNews you can print as few as one to 50 copies and still be competitive. The cost per copy is the same whether you print one or 3000 copies.
We are working on increasing the speed of the DGNews substantially over the course of the next year, with a goal toward bringing the cost per copy down even further.
N&T: If you are selling to distributors, who sells and services the system?
Barham: Agfa handles sales, installation, training and service.
N&T: How is color management handled?
Barham: Agfa integrates our ColorTune color management suite with the Dotrix DGNews. This is the technology we use in our proofing systems that allows us to match any output profile. Color is accurate. UV inks also allow a much wider color gamut for better color matching, especially important for matching special color.
N&T: How does the DGNews integrate into the workflow?
Barham: Very easily with our Apogee X workflow software. The DGNews was designed to integrate easily into any workflow — Agfa or non-Agfa.
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