HT Media is one of India’s leading media companies which publishes the Hindustan Times in English with a combined countrywide circulation of about 1.6 million copies and other broadsheets including the Hindi daily Hindustan and the financial daily Mint and several magazines. The Delhi-headquartered company is now embarking on a comprehensive overhaul of its production and editorial solutions infrastructure to enhance and optimize its media production using ppi Media’s software solutions. A current version of QuarkXPress for editing editorial content will also be integrated into ppi Media’s production workflow.
Similar to several other larger publications and publishers in India, Hindustan Times uses ppi Media’s integrated solutions to produce daily newspapers, including the central planning component PlanPag, and AdMan to manage ad production and additional elements. All the components are currently working together seamlessly as part of a comprehensive production workflow. However, many of the software solutions installed are being replaced by the latest product versions as part of a shift by the Hindustan Times to a current Long Term Support Release (LTSR) from ppi Media, for providing a state-of-the-art technological foundation going forward.
Within the framework of the Long Term Support Releases, the ppi Media solutions provide clients with regular, extensive technological and functional innovations, with a fixed update and support schedule for the integrated product versions to ensure a secure production environment. In addition to the update to a current LTSR, ppi Media is also integrating a new editor to design ads, and a workflow for magazine production at HT Media.
Integration of QuarkXPress into the ppi workflow
Along with InDesign, QuarkXPress is often a crucial production tool for publishers in India in terms of layout and editing. For the first time, ppi Media’s XML interface will be integrated into the current QuarkXPress versions so that HT Media can implement QuarkXPress in ppi Media’s established production workflow to guarantee a structured exchange of data.
Group head of Publishing Services at Hindustan Times, Kapil Arora, states, “We are delighted to be working with ppi Media to place our production environment on a new technological footing. The deep integration of the workflow components and ppi’s highly client-oriented service are vitally important to us. So we can already look back over many years of successful cooperation.”
“Our solutions are deeply integrated into InDesign in various ways, but QuarkXPress also plays a central role in the newsroom, particularly in India. Therefore, not only are we delighted that HT Media has chosen ppi solutions for a comprehensive update, but this project is also taking us a step towards deeper integration of QuarkXPress with ppi Media solutions,” says Dr Hauke Berndt, CEO of ppi Media.
Based on a press release from ppi Media on 2 November 2021.
