According to a Naviga survey to over 1,000 newsroom personnel associated with the development of a daily newspaper, approximately 30% of all allocated resources are dedicated to the print newspaper manufacturing process. Think about that. A third of all resources are tethered to delivering a physical paper. And when we double-click further, most of that process is typically tied to the copy and layout changes needed to adhere to the ‘look and feel’ of the paper.
For instance, the branding of the publication or the way the ads are reconciled and placed against articles, even down to the titles and amount of white space throughout the pages of each paper, is all critically examined by several if not dozens of people day in and day out in every newsroom across the globe.
That’s a staggering amount of resources, bearing in mind that most of the focus and attention should be on the actual journalistic reporting that truly differentiates a publisher over another. It makes sense, doesn’t it? No one I’ve ever spoken with ever once said they subscribe to the Wall Street Journal because they loved the precise spacing of the column widths or their use of “Escrow” and “Dispatch” fonts for their headlines, “Exchange” for text, and “Retina” for small text and other labels. Never. (Apologies to Creatives everywhere).
Don’t get me wrong, as a marketer, I understand that branding is important. But inevitably, people subscribe to their beloved publication due to the reporting and journalistic quality of information. And the publications that ‘win’ are the ones putting the most focus and mindset into being ‘Content-First’.
As people in the publishing industry, we all know this. You might be thinking: “Chris, I get it. A ‘Content-First Newsroom’ sounds a-ma-zing. But how can we shift to that paradigm when we have to support two different delivery mechanisms?” Yes, this brings me back to my original point: most newsrooms are encumbered by the print manufacturing process and not truly ‘Content-First’.
Well, Naviga and The Globe and Mail have a solution to automate the print production workflow. Naviga has a piece of smart AI/ML technology in Naviga Publisher, powered by Sophi.io, that allows newsrooms to drive effiencies, increase the quality level of newspapers, and, overall, be truly “Content-First.” This artificial intelligence system developed by The Globe and Mail empowers newsrooms to devote their time, energy and resources to reporting on news rather than the delivery of content to multiple channels.
Naviga Publisher powered by Sophi.io enables publishers to deliver a consistent, brand-driven look and feel of their paper, regardless of article length, other assets and other influencing factors such as ads, placement, or layout. The automation technology is configured to model the decisions that print editors make today, enabling publishers to deliver great content without compromising on layout quality or having to use templates.
Naviga Publisher is part of Naviga’s Smart Layouts solution, which also includes Naviga Templates. Naviga Templates automates copy fitting of articles, while Naviga Publisher powered by Sophi.io fully automates the time-intensive process of page creation and assembly for the entire publication.
And, by the way, it’s not just marketing fluff. Two of our customers running this in production today are: Agderposten in Norway uses Naviga Publisher and Gota Media in Sweden relies on Naviga Templates.
Designed to drive efficiencies for print and e-reader manufacturing workflows, these smart automation tools enable news organizations to become truly ‘Content-First’ by relying on a unified content management system (CMS), Naviga Content. This CMS allows publishers to create, store, manage and deliver content to any channel. It’s as simple as clicking a ‘Print Button’, which automates print manufacturing and ePaper publishing from a content-neutral CMS.
Check out our new Print Automation eBook or video to learn more about our Smart Layouts offerings and how to truly be a ‘Content-First’ newsroom! You can also view our official press release for more details on the Naviga and The Globe and Mail partnership.