The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) is bringing its renowned Digital Media conferences to Latin America, with the first ever Digital Media Latinoamérica conference to be held in Bogotá, Colombia, on 30 and 31 October 2013.
First confirmed speakers for the event include: Jon Ruiz, CEO of Casa Editorial El Tiempo in Colombia, Gastón Roitberg, Multimedia Newsroom Managing Editor for La Nación in Argentina, Rob Grimshaw, Managing Director of FT.com, and Matthew Skibinski, Vice President of Press + in the United States.
"This is something our Latin American members have been requesting for some time, a digital-focused event dedicated to an exchange of ideas and best practices between the most innovative regional players and the rest of the world," said Vincent Peyrègne, CEO of WAN-IFRA, the global organization of news publishing that represents 18,000 newspapers, 15,000 online sites and more than 3,000 companies in 120 countries.
Digital publishing is flourishing in Latin America, with digital advertising estimated to grow an average of 15.9% over the next five years, according to PriceWaterhouseCoopers. The region is also expected to experience the biggest growth in broadband penetration worldwide, with a compound annual increase of 5.5 per cent from 2012 to 2016.
"Latin America is taking its own digital path and this transformation is accelerating," said Mr Peyrègne, who will open the conference in Bogotá. "We believe that Digital Media Latinoamérica will contribute to this process by helping to spur creativity and innovation within the news publishing industry at a most crucial time."
WAN-IFRA's "Digital Media" conferences have become a referent in the digital publishing industry, with more than 800 delegates from around the globe attending the Digital Media Europe (DME), Digital Media Asia (DMA), and Digital Media India (DMI) editions last year. This DMx network of events makes it one of the most relevant international business platforms dedicated to the transformation of the news media industry.
Marcelo Rech, Executive Director for Journalism at Group RBS in Brazil and Chair of WAN-IFRA's Latin American Committee, said: "WAN-IFRA's Digital Media Conferences are pinpointed to present initiatives that are not only inspiring and innovative, but usable. It is almost impossible to leave these events without a bunch of useful alternatives for the future."
Case studies will include:
- The Financial Times, which has forged a reputation for its successful digital transformation. Mr Grimshaw will explain how, through perseverance in business and product innovation, the company now achieves 50 per cent of its revenue through digital.
- El Tiempo, Colombia's largest media group that includes a network of portals that attract more than 21 million unique users, a local TV network and a 24-hour news channel. Mr Ruiz, who has broad experience in multinational companies outside the industry, is leading the company toward change and innovation and actively developing paid content strategies.
- Press +, a digital subscription platform with a predominant philosophy of charging for content through the metered solution. The company regularly collects information on paywall implementation and results from more than 400 publishers.
- La Nación, which has developed an array of digital products and creative audience engagement strategies via social media, and through LA NACION Data group, its data journalism project. Mr Roitberg, President of the Argentine Digital Editors Association and author of the blog "Conectados" devoted to cyber culture topics, has played a key role in these developments.
