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Following on from yesterday's article about newspaper integration and aggregation, the Editors Weblog continues its interview with Ian Fernandes, head of the Digital Division at Nation Media Group (NMG). Today, we look at its new social media platform, mobile classifieds and cross-promotion.

Social media and the Daily Nation - Who wants to be famous?

The NMG has been looking at how to get their readers more involved with the company's activities. Fernandes says, "We are taking a lot of knowledge from what we see happening abroad and from being in the entertainment industry with radio and television. From this, we are noticing that the younger generation are spending more time on Facebook or MySpace than watching television. So we are starting our own social website which will be launched before the end of the year." The name of the site has been under wraps, but Fernandes exclusively revealed to the Editors Weblog that it will be called Zuqka, and the style of the site will be a mixture of Facebook and citizen journalism.

NMG receive pictures, video clips, and songs from readers, listeners and viewers from across its various platforms and it is unable to use it all as there is only so much content they can carry. Users of this new site will be able to share this content with other subscribers and who will then be able to vote on how good or bad it is. The best of this content will be used on NMG's mainstream media platforms. Fernandes says, "We are killing two birds with one stone. Firstly, we are using content that we couldn't use before and, secondly, we are giving people the chance to be famous. A lot of Kenyans want to be famous but there is no chance to be. For example, you can send in a song and if the site users vote for it and it gets in the Top Ten of songs on the site, it will then be played on NMG's Easy FM radio station. In the same way, the top ten blogs on the site will be put in the Saturday newspaper. Whatever topics are being discussed on the blogs and pictures being sent in and so forth, will be shown on a TV magazine programme."

NMG are also going to introduce a platform called Events whereby you can see what is happening in terms of concerts and so forth in Kenya. Through this portal your network of friends on the site can see what you are attending and you can send details of the, for example, concert, to your circle of friends and invite them to come along.

NMG are in the final stages of putting the site together, with the design template scheduled to be completed by the end of this month. Once Broadband is introduced to Kenya (scheduled for next year, please see yesterday's article) sites such as this will have a real opportunity to take off. Fernandes reports, "We want to inform people that there is a lot more you can do with the Internet."  The site is set to be launched at the end of November, and a newspaper pullout also will be unveiled at the same time under the same Zuqka brand name. This pullout will be driven by content from the site.

Fernandes say, "We are at an advantage in terms of tapping into social media as we have all the other platforms within the NMG to drive it. Just telling a user that they can send a video or audio and share it with their friends is not good enough. With the NMG site, the user could get in the newspaper or on TV, this will be the selling factor."

Fernandes goes on to say, "Media has changed. The editor used to select what we saw and so forth whereas today it is the subscriber who chooses. By allowing subscribers to contribute to your product you can also test to see what is the big story... Getting your readership involved by sending in content to you is so important."

Mobile news ahead of online site

With Internet connectivity being so slow, mobile usage in Kenya is significantly higher than internet usae, with four out of every five Kenyans having a mobile phone. To explot this usage, the Daily Nation website also has a Wapsite, providing readers with a mobile web version of the newspaper. Customers who are looking for Daily Nation content on their phone are directed to the Mobile version of the news site.

The Daily Nation mobile site sends breaking news alerts, sports alerts, religious phrases, and horoscopes to subscribers. Furthermore, in the coming months, NMG is looking to introduce video news alerts for mobile phones via MMS or video content.

Classifieds through mobile

The company is also looking at the classified platform whereby if, for example, you are looking for a red BMW and you are willing to pay 200,000 shillings you will be able to punch the details into your phone and this data then links to the newspaper classified database. The relevant seller details will then be sent to your mobile phone. Once again, the slow Internet connection has resulted in the online classified section being underused, this should change next year. Fernandes predicts that once broadband hits Kenya, "we will see an explosion in Internet usage and we want to be ready for that."

Who wants to be a millionaire?

A key target of the newly established digital division is the monetisation of the various platforms within NMG, it seeks to pursue this by linking its platforms and cross promoting. Fernandes told the Weblog that every Tuesday on NTV (NMG's TV channel) there is a quiz show and viewers send in their answers by SMS, the winner is the person who sends in the most correct answers fastest. The winner of the show wins 1,000 shillings. This show is being cross-promoted across all of NMG's brands and has proved a hit with Kenyans. Fernandes explains the popularity of the show, "Kenya is probably one of the few countries where the "Who wants to be a millionaire" format did not work, not because people did not find the show interesting but because they were too shy to go on TV and look stupid if they did not know the answer. With this format Kenyans can play along from the comfort of their own home and no one knows if you get an answer right or wrong or what you look like."

Secret of NMG's success

Looking at all the various changes and innovations that the NMG has introduced, and is looking to introduce, it is clearly at the cutting edge of innovation within the newspaper and media industry. The cross-promotion across its platforms and the integration of not just the newsrooms but also the content is particularly notable. The Zuqka site looks set to be a success and the vision behind it is exciting, it should generate a real buzz in Kenya and around the NMG brand. Furthermore, it will also attract the key youth readership and create loyalty. Fernandes says, "Our philosophy is that the world is changing and we need to give our customers what they want when they want it and in the way they want it." This seems to be why NMG is so successful, the company knows and understands its readers, and anticipates what they want before they even want it

See also:

Kenyan Media Part 1: Is newsroom integration possible for media conglomerates

The Daily Nation newspaper is in an advantageous position in the African market in that it is part of the largest media conglomerate in Central and Eastern Africa, the Nation Media Group (NMG). The Nation Media Group not only runs newspapers, but also TV stations, mobile platforms, websites and radio across Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Furthermore, the introduction of three undersea fibre optic cables next year will bring broadband to Kenya and significantly change the market. These advances in technology and the large footprint of this media conglomerate brings with it unique opportunities but also unique problems for the Daily Nation.

The Editors Weblog spoke to Ian Fernandes, head of Nation Media Group's Digital Division about aggregation, integration and its plans to become a major African online news service. Before heading the Digital Division, Fernandes worked for thirteen years in broadcasting and five years in newspapers.

"Tremendous growth" for Kenya?

The Daily Nation currently faces challenges with its online division due to the lack of Internet reliability in Kenya. The introduction of broadband is widely expected to result in significant growth in the online and telecommunications market in Kenya. Richard Bell, the chief executive officer of East Africa Capital Partners, a Nairobi-based venture capital group, said when talking about the broadband introduction to Kenya, "We have bet the farm on the fact that East Africa is going to see tremendous growth... We're looking for Africa's next Google."

Unique advantages and disadvantages

The Nation Media Group is preparing itself for  broadband by integrating its news platforms. From one office in Nairobi the NMG runs five print titles, two radio stations, a television station, and the recently created Digital Division, which Fernandes heads up. The goal of integration is to, "take the content from all these brands and to make that content available on converged platforms, meaning the mobile and online platforms. Whereas other newspapers have had to invest in technology for their online editions, for us it was already existing, so all we had to do is, for example, link a Barack Obama story that we have in our print publication to what our broadcast team has done and 'voila' we have a fully multi-media website. We skipped what a lot of newspapers are actually going through today." Fernandes goes on to say, "We are giving our customers the opportunity to chose how he or she wants to view their media." Therefore, if one looks on the Daily Nation website, one can see content from the online team, but also from the broadcasting and print team within NMG as well.

One big basket of content

NMG recently introduced a new content management system called CoreMedia. With this new system, "if we are looking at the content of three of our newspapers and we see that the top story on the TV station is a piece about Barack Obama then we do not have to go and physically place that story on all of the three editions, it automatically picks it up as they are resident in a common database. We have one big basket into which everyone is throwing their content and then the online editors decide to pick what is relevant for their particular portal and it can be done at the click of a button."

Integration across print, TV and radio

In terms of convergence and integration, this is as far as NMG has gone. In terms of newsgathering, each brand still has its own newsroom, and each newsroom goes out and pursues an event individually. However, with the introduction of the new content management system, NMG is now looking at newsroom convergence. Therefore, instead of sending eight different teams to cover one particular event from each angle be it TV or radio, they are looking to pull them all together and have one multi-media team go and cover an event. This would consist of a reporter, cameraman and photographer reporting the story and then placing it in the CoreMedia "basket" of content. The various brands at NMG can then take that content and repackage it so it is suitable to its relevant market.

Problems of size

This is obviously a far more efficient way for NMG to cover a news event, but NMG faces a specific problem with regard the integration of publishing, ie, publishing to multiple platforms from one piece of software. Due to the sheer size of NMG, they have been unable to find suitable software that can carry all their content and efficiently manage it. Fernandes reports that "there is not any software that exists in the world today that can manage the process, because there are very few organisations like us, who need such a service.  The Times of London's video content is from the Times of London, but on the Daily Nation web edition the video content comes from NTV - the NMG's TV station -, which has its own unique brand. That is where the difference is." Fernandes and his team are examining various technologies on the market and reports "newspapers have software that integrates the ability to manage their online content, and with that newspaper companies are looking at getting video as part of that content, which is something they haven't done before. So the technology is still very much at the development stage whereby they are using video content that is suitable for their website and we need to look at video at a higher quality level."  

Aggregation site to challenge international players

The Nation Media Group is also readying itself for this new advancement and has built a news aggregator portal called nationafrica.com. nationafrica.com pulls together all the news from across the Nation Media Group's many platforms. Fernandes reports, "Our vision is to be the media of Africa for Africa. It would be wrong to think we could have newspapers and TV stations all over Africa, but online is the perfect platform." The timing of the launch of this site is significant, if nationafrica.com can establish itself quickly enough in the market, it has the potential to become the dominant force in the aggregator arena in Africa. The players in the market who have their strategies in place for when broadband hits Kenya will be at a marked advantage for establishing their brand in the market.

Fernandes reports that they are expecting the site to grow from just being a portal focusing on the Central and East African region - NMG have three newspapers in Tanzania and a newspaper and TV station in Uganda - to beyond its current reach. NMG have correspondents in 18 African countries providing content on a daily basis, it plans to train and equip these same journalists with "not just note books and pens, but cameras and video cameras" and they will be able to load this content directly onto the NMG system. NMG is in a unique position to challenge the other media conglomerates operating in Africa who have bureaus and correspondents all over Africa, such as the BBC. Fernandes states that this portal is vital to Africa as the international broadcasters like the BBC and CNN tend to focus on the "doom and gloom stories about Africa."

The future
 
NMG has undoubtedly been at an advantage with the expansion of online media due to the fact that it is not just a newspaper company, but the fact that it is not a newspaper company creates challenges for the firm in terms of efficiency for its business model. The challenge of streamlining the publication platforms for an organisation of NMG's size is a significant mountain to climb. Technology is rapidly coming on stream that will aid this process, but could it result in the various NMG brands loosing their identity in the drive for efficiency? This is something that NMG will have to consider as the brand's popularity is in no small part due to its ability to tap into the domestic market.

The future looks bright for this media conglomerate and its move to challenge the international players in the market such as the BBC is a bold and brave move that it needed to take to keep NMG at the heart of the Central and Eastern African market.

Part 2 - In tomorrow's article, social media, the Daily Nation and the search for fame, and why the "Who wants to be a millionaire" format failed in Kenya and how NMG adapted it to the mobile market.

Source: AllAfrica.com
 

In a time when newspapers are struggling to retain advertisers, the UK’s Evening Standard has a different approach: a broadband TV portal that hopes to target the classified advertising market.

The large Spanish media group Prisa, parent company to the esteemed newspaper El Pais as well as radio and television stations, is preparing itself for the multimedia age. Blanca Perez Montequi, Director of Strategy for Prisacom, the group's Internet division established in 2000, sat down for an interview with the French Journal du Net to discuss its projects, including its youth publication EP3 and El Pais' decision to take down the paid wall on most of its website.

" Convergence is no longer just a buzzword spouted by Silicon Valley tech evangelists passing around the investor-funded collection plates" writes Simon Tsang from The Age, Australia. It's not exactly about convergence in the newsroom, but we can pick up some ideas in this well-documented paper about the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. it reminds us that every minute dedicated to home entertainment (Playstation, Ipod...) is a minute lost for reading newspapers.