Presentations during the Thursday morning sessions of the Strategy Forum examined measuring the entire newspaper business, and measuring the advertising department.

Total Business Monitoring

Allan Marshall, Group Technology Director, Associated Newspapers, United Kingdom

When they first entered the digital world, it was natural for newspapers to re-create, in electronic form, the work they used in the world of hot-metal processes.

At Associated Newspapers, that transformation led to over 100 major systems in use through the company - and, for the most part, they didn’t talk to each other. "We didn’t actually look at the work flow," says Mr Marshall.

By the end of 2004, the number of systems will be down to 12.

Associated Newspapers is in the final stages of completing an all-encompassing processing system that exploits what the digital world offers to measure and monitor the entire business and to react accordingly. The system "allows you to track information without losing your marbles about what’s going on around you."

"It is designed to give our key people instant information, in graphical format that can be read without a technical background," says Mr Marshall. "It is a combination of data and business metrics, in real time, with historical data providing context. It monitors key thresholds and indicators, and triggers corrective action - it tells you what you have to do to fix things."

Mr Marshall presented an overview of how the system works in editorial, advertsing and commercial sectors of the newspaper, and the benefits derived from it.

Measuring For Motivation

Eamonn Byrne, Deputy Director General, World Association of Newspapers

It seems like a rather obvious question: "why measure advertising revenues and the activities of the sales team?"

But Mr Byrne has an unusual answer: to motivate staff. It’s all about "how to get people into a mindset so they can achieve for you," he says.

And, "if you can’t measure it, how can you demonstrate improvements in performance and activities?"

So, what to measure? "Clearly, results. But we also need to have a handle on what is going on. You want them to achieve the maximum they can from the marketplace. On the road to that, you want them to surpass their targets. We want to measure what they’re doing every day."

Mr Byrne presented a six-step process for achieving results and several case studies of how it can be employed. The steps are: performance standards; target planning; measuring performance; implement rewards or sanctions; training; and review.

Finding Hidden Value

Jim Chisholm, Strategy Advisor, World Association of Newspapers

Measurements can sometimes surprise you - and find hidden value as well, says Mr Chisholm.

In a brief presentation to highlight his point, Mr Chisholm provided one example of the implications that might be uncovered as measurements go deeper.

Looking at national dailies the United Kingdom, Mr Chisholm examined the value of reading frequency, and the advertising revenue generated per copy, and found that the most loyal readers tended to be the less affluent.

"This is basically saying that the more prosperous the readers of newspapers, the less loyal they’re likely to be," he says. "Newspapers that enjoy the most loyalty tend to be down market."

Since rich readers generate more ad revenue per copy, increasing their reading frequency will generate increased revenue.

Mr Chisholm’s analysis - and others, along with much more on strategic and operational developments in the newspaper industry - is examined in depth in the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project of the World Association of Newspapers, www.futureofthenewspaper.com.