ppi Media has announced its latest sweeping innovation: The editorial solution Content-X is set to support the Gutenberg Editor known from WordPress and Drupal. Content-X will feature a version of the online editor with deep InDesign integration, enabling editorial offices to write and publish content for print and online channels in one single tool without any system breaks.
After conducting extensive customer surveys and market analysis in recent months, ppi Media has now drawn up a plan to develop and expand its Content-X editorial solution into a comprehensive, scalable, and cost-effective platform for publishers and businesses. As the first step in this evolutionary process, Content-X will support the Gutenberg Editor.
By connecting an editor optimized for digital channels with deep InDesign integration known from Content-X, ppi Media is driving a key development for “online first” work in editorial offices, allowing editors to easily and efficiently write both online and print articles in the interface of the Gutenberg Editor.
“Whenever we develop Content-X, we try to use open-source solutions and existing technologies where possible to make sure we can fall back on tried-and-tested system components and the expertise of a globally networked community,” explains Dr Hauke Berndt, chief executive officer of ppi Media. “We find it particularly important to ensure that all future elements integrated in Content-X are compatible with our solution’s established system components. That’s how we protect the investment of our existing customers and allow them to carry out modular upgrades if required.”
Manuel Scheyda, chief operating officer of ppi Media, says, “While the core of our publishing platform will continue to be functional for creating, publishing and managing content, we’ll be adding further components to the system, such as tools to manage user-generated content, and smart analysis and AI features. We give publishers exactly the functions they need, and they can choose from a fully modular system”.
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.
