Readers Run, And A Newspaper Profits

Readers Run, And A Newspaper Profits

Poland's largest newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza has found a unique way to generate profits – it put the nation on the run.

Its "Run, Poland run!" campaign drew 100,000 participants to 500 running and jogging events last year and helped Gazeta Wyborcza extend its brand, generate new younger readers, attract commercial partners, and become known for promoting sport and an active, healthy lifestyle.

Marcin Gadzinski, Editor in Chief of Sport.pl, the newspaper's internet sports brand, will explain how the campaign worked at the "Using Sports News to Optimise Your Revenues" conference, to be held later this week at the Parc des Princes Stadium in Paris.

Sports editors, publishers and other senior newspaper executives from at least 19 countries will gather at the stadium on Thursday and Friday (14 and 15 January) to hear a wide variety of newspaper and digital media experts on how to increase revenues from sports news and information. There is still time to join them -- last minute participants are welcome, and full conference details can be found at http://www.ifra.com/eventsport (language can be changed by using the selector on the left side of the page).

This year, Gazeta Wyborcza and Sports.pl, which aggregates sports content from Gazeta Wyborcza, Tok FM Radio, and the Metro free newspaper, are launching a new campaign – "Poland rides a bike" – and Mr Gadzinski will describe the steps to putting together such a campaign.

Other presentations at the conference, organised by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), include:

- How newspapers can make better use of audience loyalty and passion to increase value, by Matt Kelly, the Digital Content Director of Trinity Mirror's national newspaper division in the United Kingdom.

- How Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport evolved from an old-style, traditional newspaper into a multimedia brand for sports "infotainment," by Nicola Speroni, Marketing Manager for the company.

- Monetizing sports content on mobile devices, which will examine new revenue streams, managing costs and other topics that relate to mobile, by Constantine Kamaras, CEO of Sport.gr in Greece, one of the first successful standalone sports websites. The session will also include a case study from the French sports daily L'Equipe, presented by Sébastien Valere, Vice President for Marketing and Operations.

- Should newspaper groups use sports betting?, by Christian Kalb, Founder of CK Consulting, a consulting company specialising in sports and prize games where sporting values are prominent. Among other topics, he will address potential strategies for newspaper groups with sports betting.

- Sports coverage: news or entertainment?, by Larry Kilman, Director of Communications and Public Affairs for WAN-IFRA, and a Member of the FIFA Media Committee, who will focus on new restrictions on sports coverage, particularly on digital platforms, what's being done to remove them, and how they impact newspaper editorial and commercial operations.

- Sports news initiatives from around the world, which will examine best practice in paper, the web and mobile, by Stanislas Sabatier, Senior Consultant at France-based Sapiens&Sapide.

- Feedback from the first worldwide community site for sports fans, Thefanclub, by Jean-Sébastien Cruz, CEO, Netco Sports in France.

- And more! Full programme and registration details can be found at www.ifra.com/eventsport

Claude Droussent, a consultant for sport and media, will chair the conference, which will feature simultaneous interpretation in French and English. Spanish will be added if more than 10 Spanish speakers are registered.

WAN-IFRA, based in Paris, France, and Darmstadt, Germany, with subsidiaries in Singapore, India, Spain, France and Sweden, is the global organisation of the world’s newspapers and news publishers. It represents more than 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries. The organisation was created by the merger of the World Association of Newspapers and IFRA, the research and service organisation for the news publishing industry.

ENDS

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