Newspaper Printers in Southeast Asia Grow Readership and Boost Revenues

By: Toni McQuilken

Delegates gathered at the ASEAN Newspaper Printers Conference in Penang, Malaysia, to discuss the newspaper business in Southeast Asia and to learn more about the rapidly changing market. The conference featured the theme “Newspapers: Forging Ahead” and tackled a number of important issues, such as changing demographics, prepress technology, press maintenance, cost control and others.  

“This is a critical time in our industry, and our members are looking for answers to the most pressing issues they face,” said Farouq Affandi Bin Mamat, secretary general for the association. “Consumers are getting their news from a variety of media channels today, so newspapers must change to stay competitive. With today’s digital tools, many newspapers are finding success in new approaches to content delivery and new ways to increase production efficiency.”  

Two Kodak executives hosted sessions during the event. Will Mansfield, Kodak’s director of worldwide marketing for Inkjet Printing Solutions, delivered a keynote presentation entitled “Growing Your Business with Hybrid Newspaper Imprinting.” The presentation included an overview of regional trends and featured numerous examples of how newspapers today are integrating digital printing technology to offer more value to readers and advertisers  

“Thanks to the speed and quality of the PROSPER S-Series Imprinting Systems, newspaper printers can seamlessly bring in a variety of targeted or interactive content at full speed with no slowdown in production,” noted Mansfield. “Attendees at the conference were very excited to see what’s possible as they look at reinventing their newspaper titles.”  

KODAK PROSPER S-Series Imprinting Systems enable printers to capitalize on the investments made in offset presses and bridge the gap with digital techniques by adopting a one-step inline process. This solution can be integrated into existing production processes, allowing newspaper printers to implement hybrid printing applications such as microzoned advertisements, targeted inserts/flyers, games, late-breaking news or sports and access codes to premium content that sits behind paywalls.  

In another session, Anita Yiu, Kodak’s prepress solutions marketing director, APR, provided an overview of the new KODAK SONORA NEWS Process Free Plates. SONORA NEWS Process Free Plates are process-free thermal plates designed specifically for newspaper applications. Because they allow printers to completely eliminate processing equipment and chemistry from platemaking, they reduce time to press and the potential for variability associated with processing. In addition, removing the processor and chemistry lets printers save money and reduce environmental impact.