InFocus: Pressmart Media, Ltd.

It is no secret that print media around the globe is struggling to keep up with the rich, on-demand news content that the internet offers. In today’s everything-can-be-found-on-the-web world, publishers (particularly smaller ones) are forced to rethink distribution models in order to continue to reach readers who no longer reach for newspapers printed on paper. Pressmart Media set up shop to help alleviate these print readership woes.

Headquartered in Hyderabad, India, with sales offices in New York and London, Pressmart was founded in 2006 as a business unit of Bodhtree Consulting, Ltd. (www.bodhtree.com), a web services consulting and development company. According to CEO Sanjiv Gupta, “The idea of Pressmart was sown when one of our clients, a large 80-year-old newspaper group in India, approached us to build a digitization solution for their historic archives. And another leading hospital chain in the U.S. approached us to digitize their physical contracts and records. We learned how to deal with scanned images from print/microform formats and PDF files and convert them into a rich XML-based content format.” From there, the idea to apply this process—once used for transforming hospital records—to the print media industry, was born.

Gupta says, “We realized that the print industry was having a tough time dealing with falling circulation, eroding readership, and rising print and distribution costs. They wanted to hop on to the online/new media bandwagon but didn’t know how. More importantly, for small and medium publications worldwide, any new media strategy was a distant dream as they lacked the financial and technological bandwidth.” In response, Pressmart developed a SaaS model to let publishers use its services on a “pay-as-you-go” basis.

The company joined a market crowded with digital distribution providers, but according to Gupta, “Pressmart reaches where no other online news aggregator reaches. We take the local, unique, and rich print content and give it an online life. We even aggregate content. So we basically see the other online news aggregators as partners rather than competition. With Pressmart, readers get access to printed, authenticated, structured, and audit-trailable content that they simply can’t have access to otherwise.”

Publishers working with Pressmart provide PDF files, which Pressmart then converts, hosts, and delivers as a digital edition (in web, mobile, podcast, and RSS forms) to subscribers. “We are like an online printing press that not only prints but delivers and markets the digital edition,” Gupta explains. “Apart from all the other bells and whistles that come with the digital edition, we also offer publishers rich reports indicating readership habits, popularity of articles, etc., that give them immense editorial intelligence. We have a subscription and single-copy sales module built into our platform. Even online advertising is integrated.” Publishers are charged a “nominal” service delivery fee by Pressmart. It is up to the publishers of the specific publication to choose whether or not to charge readers for access to online content.

For Gupta, “[The] media and news [industry] is one of the most interesting and dynamic industries. News survives only on change. And technology is an ever-changing phenomenon,” he says. “Striking a perfect balance between the two and constantly enhancing the convenience of our delivery is the key to our success. This, obviously, keeps all of us on our toes with very few dull moments.”

Gupta offers two tales to illustrate the range of ways Pressmart helps its clients: “One of our customers is a local non-English publisher with a print circulation of less than 20,000 copies. When they signed up with us, they had no idea about what our solution could do to their brand. We were bullish—up to a point. Within 8 months of launching an electronic edition on the Pressmart platform, that same title is now read by [more than] 103,000 readers from 88 countries.” In another instance, “We were contacted by an overseas newspaper for urgent assistance, as their distribution setup was gutted on account of forest fires.” Within 3 hours of the call, Gupta says the Pressmart team had the e-editions of the publication live.

Pressmart exists to serve the needs of both local publications and their potentially global audiences. Gupta explains, “Pressmart is a launch pad for print publishers, especially small-to-medium publishers, who have zero or low access to technology and marketing channels. There are hundreds of thousands of local community newspapers and magazines that source news and content that is not available in any top-line publication. This content is invaluable. Publishers need to take this content to the worldwide readership, and every reader is looking for unique and personalized content. Pressmart fits in well to meet this need.”

[Click Here to see the 2008-09 EContent 100 List]

Pressmart has opened an office in the UK and appointed Tom McGowran as its UK Sales Director. Tom was CEO of Tindle newspapers for thirteen years and for the past five years has run his own media consultancy company providing services to the major players in newspaper publishing here and overseas.

Tom has always been in the forefront of new technology - being one of the very first to introduce full page make up and outsourcing page make up.

“This is a very exciting time for publishers - just as circulations and revenues are falling here is a terrific opportunity to both increase distribution electronically and attract new sources of revenue” says Tom. “I took on the Pressmart contract as I believed it to be the smartest solution on the market - and it is pay as you go! No set up costs - Just supply a PDF and Pressmart does the rest - delivering digital editions, mobile, Podcast, RSS, Blogs and social networking channels”

On prior appointment, he can be met at the following address:

St James House

13 Kensington Square

London W8 5HD

United Kingdom

or Contact Us

- How a High Technology Company in South India Helps Publishers in 35 Countries Reduce Costs and Increase Revenues in the Current Economic Downturn

Newspapers are continuing to feel the pinch of the impending recession with redundancies affecting national, regional, paid-for and free titles. The cost of energy, paper and printing has risen dramatically in the last year, forcing some newspapers to close and save money. Circulation has been shrinking, and advertising sales have fallen greatly in the last year causing many Publishers to re-think their economic models.

But what is the solution, and what will work, as newspapers seek an alternate income stream to replace print decline? The public is increasingly looking to gather information from many different sources. Readers want their information now - not tomorrow or even next week.

“Several publishers are evaluating replacing print edition with digital edition on alternate days of the week. ” Said Myles Fuchs, President (North America), Pressmart.

Leading the digital publishing revolution, Pressmart, a company based in South India and a presence in London and New York is offering an easy-to- deploy and pay-as-you-go service with no set up costs. Everyone from a start- up magazine to a daily newspaper can have their digitized edition, online, within hours.

“The digitisation of publications presents publishers with the greatest opportunity to extend their reach allowing them to expand into new markets without great expenditure. I predict that the majority of successful publications will be relying upon their digital editions to improve their bottom line in the next year or so.” says Tom McGowran, Sales Director (UK), Pressmart.

Touted as a 360-degree full-service offering, Pressmart offers a hosted service that includes ePublishing, delivery, hosting, subscriptions, single-copy sales, online payments, online ads and analytics, on a single platform.

Pressmart’s proprietary technology strips the pre-press PDF pages it receives from publishers and pushes the content intelligently on multiple delivery channels like Web, Mobile, RSS, Podcast, Blogs, Search Engines and Social Media.

“The adoption rate of our print-to-digital service has been remarkable over the past 24 months. While leading international publishers and global publishing associations like the World Association of Newspapers, Suburban Newspapers of America and National Newspapers of America, trust our technology, it is the Small to Medium Publishers (SMP) that derive the maximum benefit from it. With Pressmart’s pay-as-you-go hosted service it fits publishers’ needs like a glove.” Says Sanjiv Gupta, CEO, Pressmart.

Pressmart says some of its customers have seen a 9 times circulation jump by adding digital publishing to their delivery strategy and have saved millions in distribution costs.

When wild fires hit Southern California and a part of San Diego Union Tribune’s delivery infrastructure was gutted, it was Pressmart in South India that rose to the occasion and upon the paper’s request, put up their print edition online, within a couple of hours. Whether holed up in their homes or in motels, Subscribers received their print edition (online), like on any other day.

The world’s oldest newspaper (formed 1645), Post-och Inrikes Tidningar of Sweden, has announced that it will publish only digitally. Could this be the destiny of many more newspapers around the world?

Pressmart Media Limited (www.pressmart.net), a leading print-to-digital delivery service, announced that it has secured a $6 Million funding from two of the most respected VC firms from the Bay area, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and NEA IndoUS Ventures, as it moves into its next phase of growth.

This investment will accelerate Pressmart’s global footprint and the resources to build on its market momentum, expanding its global sales, marketing, and customer-support presence across 35 countries where it currently serves over 350 print media customers. Pressmart’s strong SaaS based ePublishing and Digitization services have helped the company gain rapid recognition worldwide, coupled with a unique 360-degree service, that offers ePublishing, delivery, hosting, subscription management, online payment, ad serving and user intelligence, all through one package.

Making the announcement Sanjiv Gupta, CEO, Pressmart, said “The adoption rate of our print-to-digital service has been remarkable over the past 24 months. Apart from leading international publishing houses, we are vendors to some of the most respected Global associations like the WAN, SNA, NNA etc This investment from Draper Fisher Jurvetson and NEA IndoUS Ventures, alongwith their combined energy and experience, will help Pressmart’s amplify its global leadership position in authenticated, published, structured, audit-trail able and aggregated content, distributed over new media channels rapidly.”

According to industry estimates, the worldwide print readership is in excess of 1.4 billion readers daily and the worldwide publications (including daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual, large newspapers, community publications, journals, etc.) is in excess of 1.62 million. In India alone there are over 150,000 publications registered with RNI.

Pressmart also announced the induction of two highly accomplished professionals, Sateesh Andra, Venture Partner of Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Vinod Dham, Founding Managing Director of NEA-IndoUS Ventures (popularly referred to as the ‘father of the Pentium’), to strengthen its Board of Directors.

In his address Sateesh Andra, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, said: “Publications around the Globe are currently under tremendous pressure to increase their presence on the web and leverage new media/social media for content distribution. Pressmart’s Platform offers publishers a strong ROI and additional means of revenue.”

“I am very excited about the opportunity to invest in Pressmart and help make it a leader in the e-publication space. As the world goes digital, there is unlimited opportunity to deliver content in variety of electronic devices. Pressmart has developed an excellent technology platform to accomplish that in an easy, quick and flexible manner,” said Vinod Dham, Founding Managing Director of NEA-IndoUS Ventures.

There is an immense amount of information stored in the billions of physical pages in the world, whether it is through newspapers, magazines, journals or other documents. Pressmart has built the technology and capability to digitally archive this physical asset (information) into searchable, retrievable and repurposable content in XML format. Pressmart has already converted 400 years of newspapers, magazines, books, research papers, hospital records, manuscripts and journals, apart from enterprise records, into future-proof digital content. Its digitization customers include leading publications in Australia, Germany, India and Thailand, besides a host of Government and quasi Government organizations. Pressmart has also built strong capability to offer digitization from Microfilms and Microfiche.

Pressmart is the industry’s most advanced solution for publishing electronic edition of Journals, newspapers and magazine or any other publication on multiple distribution channels like Web, Mobile, RSS, Podcast, Blogs, Search Engines, Article Directories and Social Networking Sites, with integrated revenue and cost-saving capabilities.

The service offered by Pressmart is highly customizable and collaborates with Web 2.0 services, proliferating print content with online community interaction. Its technology transforms the static online replica of a journal/newspaper/magazine into an intuitive, interactive online medium by way of features like Podcasts, Blogs, opinion polls and online shopping.

Using Pressmart’s technology, Publishers can quickly archive, digitize and electronically publish content, effortlessly. They can even track reading trends and analyze subscriber behavior – aiding not only editorial strategy, but also their ad sales efforts.

About Pressmart:
Pressmart (www.pressmart.net) is a New Media Delivery Partner of leading newspapers and magazines published in over 22 languages across 35 countries. Pressmart takes over where the pre-press ends and delivers the electronic edition on multiple distribution channels including web (as a print-replica ePaper edition), Mobile, RSS, Podcasts, Blogs, Social Networking Sites, Article Directories, Search Engines, etc.

Pressmart also offers digitization of legacy archives from multiple physical formats into re-usable and monetizable digital formats. It has digitized over 400 years’ worth of newspapers, magazines and journals. Pressmart is headquartered in Hyderabad and has a customer support presence in US and UK.

About Draper Fisher Jurvetson:
Draper Fisher Jurvetson (”DFJ”) backs extraordinary entrepreneurs everywhere who set out to change the world. DFJ achieves its mission through its DFJ Global Network of Partner Funds. Together, DFJ and the Network manage over $6B and have made more than 600 investments on four continents www.dfj.com

About NEA-IndoUS Ventures:
NEA-IndoUS Ventures is a venture capital firm based out of the US and India. Co-founded by Vinod K. Dham and Vani Kola, the firm invests in businesses that leverage accelerated, long-term growth prospects and capital efficiencies. For additional information, visit www.neaiuv.com�

Some say digital media publishing has caused the death of print media, but this is simply not true.  Digital media’s impact on the newspaper industry is certainly significant, but people are still willing to pay for their favorite magazine or newspaper in print form. 

There is no denying that print publishing is very different now than it was years ago.  The reality is that you can choose which delivery options suits you best.  Things move a lot quicker today, so waiting for a newspaper or magazine to be delivered to your doorstep tends to be cumbersome for the busy executive. Why wait when they can simply type in the web address and the information is at their fingertips.  Granted, if there is an article of major interest that they want to keep, they will go out and purchase the printed form.  There is no denying that. 

For a lot of people who pay for print publications, including newspapers, magazines, and books, a major portion of the value is in the distribution. This has all changed due to the introduction of digital media publishing.  In a nutshell, digital media publishing empowers the technology that brings together all of the new media methods for distributing electronic information. 

Digital media publishing is vastly different than traditional publishing and new authors know this all too well.  In earlier years it would nearly take a miracle for a new author, without an agent, to get published.  Now, thanks to digital media publishing, these new authors get published.  The only downside is that the content is almost always unedited and printed “as is.”  This can be good if the author majored in English, but catastrophic (grammatically) if it’s not one of their stronger skills. 

Another highlight to digital media publishing is instant full access to your favorite digital library.  It will take some getting used to if you are used to going to the local book store, buying a book and putting it on your bookshelf.  Look at it this way – you won’t have to dust the shelves any longer.  It’s also more portable.  When you board a plane or are traveling, you don’t have to carry extra baggage like books and magazines.  You simply carry a laptop and all of the information is there for you.

It’s also a less expensive way to stock up on reference guides, etc.  Traditional publishers have to foot the bill for copying, printing and binding the books.  Digital media publishers simply format the information for the internet and it’s good to go.  This saves time and money, so they pass those savings along to you.  And, again, if it’s a favorite book worth keeping, most people will actually buy the book from a brick and mortar book store and put it on the shelf at home. 

Will traditional publishing fade away?  No one really knows.  For now, it has competition from digital media publishers, but in different venues.  Yes, people are still buying print media.  Some truly value the idea of having the print in their hands.  What happens with the next generation behind us, only time will tell.

Editor & Publisher magazine (www.editorandpublisher.com ) today signed an agreement with Pressmart Media Ltd. (www.pressmart.net) to provide a digital, same-as-print electronic edition of the newspaper publishing industry’s leading trade publication.

In a joint statement E&P Publisher Chas McKeown said “the Pressmart state-of-the-art solution will provide our readership access to Editor & Publisher on multiple digital distribution channels including eEditions; Podcasts; Mobile devices and eArchives.”

“We are very excited by E&P’s choice of Pressmart as their new media delivery partner. E&P had a choice of vendors and chose Pressmart’s best-of-breed solution,” commented Myles M. Fuchs, President of Pressmart Media Ltd.

About Editor&Publisher
Editor & Publisher is the authoritative journal covering all aspects of the North American newspaper industry, including business, newsroom, advertising, circulation, marketing, technology, online and syndicates.

Based in New York City, the magazine dates back to 1884, when The Journalist, a weekly, was founded. E&P was launched in 1901 and merged with The Journalist in 1907. E&P later acquired Newspaperdom, a trade journal for the newspaper industry that started in 1892. In 1927, E&P merged with another trade paper, The Fourth Estate. In January 2004, E&P switched from weekly to monthly publication, while revamping its Web site to offer more breaking news and content on a daily basis.

E&P Online (www.editorandpublisher.com) offers breaking news free to all visitors in our Top Stories section. Each week, selected proprietary stories from E&P staff are made available free to all visitors, but the majority of our analysis, industry news, features, columns, and trends are restricted to E&P subscribers.

About Pressmart
Pressmart ( www.pressmart.net ) is a New Media Delivery Partner of leading newspapers and magazines, delivering same-as-print content on multiple distribution channels including the Web (as a print-replica ePaper edition), Mobile, RSS, Podcasts, Blogs, Social Networking Sites, Article Directories, Search Engines and eArchives. Pressmart has digitized over 400 years’ worth of newspapers, magazines and journals.

Media Contacts:
E&P: Chas McKeown – (646) 654-5120
Pressmart: Myles M. Fuchs – (949) 395-7560

Pressmart Media Limited will be showcasing its widely adopted New Media Digital Publishing and Archival Solution for Newspapers and Magazines at WAN Info Service Expo, Goteborg (Sweden) between 1 & 4th June, 2008 (Booth #H:30).

Pressmart is a New Media Delivery Partner of leading newspapers and magazines published in over 20 languages across 34 countries and offer a 360 degree service (right from conversion to monetization) to publications. Pressmart takes over where the pre-press ends and delivers the electronic edition on multiple distribution channels including web (as a print-replica ePaper edition), Mobile, RSS, Podcasts, Blogs, Social Networking Sites, Article Directories, Search Engines, etc.

Pressmart seamlessly integrates the current eEdition with historic news-pages. We have converted over 400 years of historic news pages of our publishing customers into an eArchival format. Historic publications stored on print, microfilm, microfiche or any other physical media can be converted into digital medium thru’ Pressmart eArchival solution.

Interactive demos of Pressmart New Media solution can be accessed at www.pressmart.net/demo

We look forward to meet you at the event. Please feel free to contact should you have any doubts or seek any clarifications.

Our annual 2008 conference will be at the beautiful Marriott Waterfront Hotel in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, June 22-24, 2008. We will again be holding our conference with the Periodical and Book Association of America, with enhanced oppportunities to network. In total there will be over 500 attendees and over 100 one-on-one opportunities.

As always, there will be lots of educational sessions, networking and social events. Please be sure to register before May 9 to take advantage of the early bird discount.

Pressmart Media LTD, a worldwide new media delivery partner of magazines and newspapers and Curtis Circulation Company, the leading national distributor of magazines with retail sales exceeding $1.5 billion, today announced a new digital sales, distribution and marketing service for magazine publishers.

Robert A. Castardi, President of Curtis Circulation Co. said, “This is the launch of a significant and very exciting service for Curtis. We are confident that Pressmart’s technology will create an entirely new and innovative sales, marketing and distribution channel for our publishing clients. The development and launch of iMags confirms our position as the leader in forward-thinking sales building programs, which reinforce our commitment to each Curtis client publisher.”

“We surveyed the digital edition arena and Pressmart stood out among the field as the industry leader, having developed the widest choice in distribution platforms among its competitors,” Castardi said. “With the added benefits from Pressmart’s e-Publishing solutions, we have gone one more step forward in creating exciting new ways of meeting the needs of our publishers both locally and globally.”

“We could not be more delighted by Curtis’ choice of technology partners with which to launch the iMags digital edition solution,” Myles M. Fuchs, Pressmart Media President, commented. “Increasingly, publishers are seeking to implement and deliver innovative digital publishing solutions for their readers and the Pressmart new media delivery solution represents a value-based approach for magazine publishers, built on a reliable technology that is both publisher and reader friendly.”

Commenting on Pressmart’s growing recognition in the global e-publishing market, CEO of Pressmart Media, Sanjeev Gupta, said, “Pressmart’s new media delivery technology is designed to deliver lasting business value to its customer, backed by constant innovation and customizations. Our performance is testified by some of the world’s most respected publishers who continue to expand their relationships with Pressmart.”

About Curtis Circulation Company

Curtis Circulation Company (www.curtiscirc.com), a worldwide periodicals distributor, represents many leading and prestigious magazine publishers that account for approximately $1.5 billion in annual single copy sales. Curtis is 90% owned by the Lagardere Company (www.lagardere.com/US) a multi-based company with extensive interest in media properties, book and magazine publishing, magazine distribution and retailing around the world.

Media Contact:
Pressmart Media Ltd.
Myles Fuchs, 212-351-5090 Myles@Pressmart.net

Pressmart Media LTD, a new media delivery partner of worldwide newspapers and magazines today announced that Baltimore-based citybizlist.com and citybiz magazine will deploy its e-Publishing solution.

The digital citybiz magazine, a spin-off of the local business news site www.citybizlist.com, will profile investors and dealmakers that are helping to transform the business landscape in Baltimore, Washington, and Philadelphia. Drawing upon the new Knowledge Map database, which diagrams in depth the inter-relationships of dealmakers and investors, the magazine will analyze key players in the context of their business network reflected in transactions and relationship history.

Edwin Warfield, Publisher of citybizlist.com and citybiz magazine said, “This is a significant product initiative for us. We are confident that Pressmart’s technology will create an entirely new and refreshing experience for our consumers across our 5 markets.”

“The process of working with Pressmart Media has been excellent,” Warfield said. “We got exactly what we have been looking for, even with very challenging project deadlines we put forth to Pressmart. With the added benefits from Pressmart e-Publishing solution we have gone one more step forward in creating exciting new ways of meeting the needs of readers locally and globally.”

“At Pressmart we are always focused on delivering the best technology solutions to our customers,” Myles M. Fuchs President, commented. “Increasingly, publishers are seeking to implement and deliver innovative e-publishing solutions for their demanding online readers and the Pressmart new media delivery solution represents a value-based approach for online newspaper and magazine publishers, built on a reliable technology that is both publisher and reader friendly.”

Commenting on Pressmart’s growing recognition in the global e-publishing market, CEO of Pressmart Media, Sanjeev Gupta, said, “Pressmart’s new media delivery technology is designed to deliver lasting business value to its customer, backed by constant innovation and customizations. Our performance is testified by some of the world’s most respected publishers who continue to expand their relationships with Pressmart.”