Funke Mediengruppe using Content-X to produce magazines

Creating supplements for newspapers since June 2020

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Funke Mediengruppe
Funke Mediengruppe using Content-X to produce magazines

After successfully completing the project phase, Hamburger Abendblatt has been producing magazines with Content-X from ppi Media and Digital Collections since August 2020. Funke Mediengruppe is now planning to use Content-X to produce magazines for other newspapers.

Funke Mediengruppe, one of the largest media groups in Germany, has long been producing its newspapers with solutions developed by ppi Media, including PlanPag and OM for page production. In June 2020, the group decided to use Content-X for the creation of magazines for Hamburger Abendblatt. In addition to the daily newspaper, the Abendblatt team regularly produces mono-thematic magazines on local issues, such as Historical Hamburg, and titles aimed at the national market, such as Jürgen Klopp.

Thanks to the web-based CX planner developed by ppi Media, the editorial solution is ideal for planning and producing magazine publications. All pages can be managed via the planner’s web interface and continuously updated via an InDesign server. Funke Mediengruppe is using DC-X from Digital Collections as its DAM system.

The media group is planning to use Content-X to produce magazines for other newspapers in the future.

Trusting cooperation

“ppi Media has been an important partner for Funke Mediengruppe for many years. When searching for an editorial solution for magazine production, it was, therefore, a no-brainer to go with Content-X for Hamburger Abendblatt”, explains Torsten Landmesser, head of Production Service / Consulting and Application at Funke Mediengruppe.

Funke Mediengruppe
Bernd Roettger, deputy editor-in-chief at Hamburger Abendblatt

Berndt Röttger, deputy editor-in-chief at Hamburger Abendblatt, adds, “Content-X streamlines the editorial workflows for the production of our magazines – we’re extremely satisfied.”

Funke Mediengruppe

Funke Mediengruppe is known for its information, entertainment, and services with a focus on three business areas: regional media; women’s magazines and TV guides; and digital services. Funke employs over 1,500 journalists and around 4,500 media professionals. The company publishes daily newspapers in the German states of Berlin, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Thuringia, including Berliner Morgenpost, Braunschweiger Zeitung, Hamburger Abendblatt, Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, and Thüringer Allgemeine.

Funke Mediengruppe

Funke is one of the largest providers in the magazine sector. Its portfolio includes Hörzu, Gong, TV Digital, Bild der Frau, Frau im Spiegel, die aktuelle, myself, and DONNA. The media group also produces numerous puzzle magazines, specialist journals, and lifestyle magazines. In the digital sector, Funke is developing a network of specialized job portals, such as Absolventa and joblocal, and the company is also a major provider in the German publishing and social media sector with a majority stake in Media Partisans.

The Funke Group publishes the leading advertising papers at all its daily newspaper locations. Funke holds a majority stake in various local radio stations in North Rhine-Westphalia. The company is also active on the Austrian newspaper market with publications such as Kronen Zeitung and Kurier. Funke even organizes two top-class events: Goldene Kamera (German film and television awards) and Goldenes Bild der Frau (an award for everyday heroines).

2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India

Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.

The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry. While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.

The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.

Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.

Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.

Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.

– Naresh Khanna

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