Tablet advertising is new frontier for publishers

VALETTA, MALTA: With the rapid rise of the iPad and other tablet computers as a publishing platform, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) has included a session on "The New Game: Tablet Advertising," in its 21st World Newspaper Advertising Conference, to be held on the island of Malta on 24 and 25 February next.

As post-crash blues are beginning to evaporate in advertising markets, the conference aims to provide strategies and ideas for new advertising revenues, and for increasing existing revenues and yields. In addition to the session on tablet advertising, the conference will provide market insights, strategies for both print and cross-media advertising, and more.

There is still time to register; full conference details can be found at www.wan-ifra.org/advertising2011 (a €200 (about R1800) registration discount is available until 21 January).

The session on tablet advertising will include:

Playing Infinity: Finding New Revenue in a World of Ad Change, Marketing Services and the Rise of the Tablet - Ken Doctor, news industry analyst and author of Newsonomics: Twelve New Trends That Will Shape the News You Get, United States.
A strategic roadmap for taking advantage of the decade of digitisation - Gregor Waller, member of the management and vice president for Strategy & Innovation, Welt Group, Axel Springer AG, Germany
The changing game: New metrics for print, online, mobile and media tablets - Staffan Hultén, vice-president/founder, RAM (Research and Analysis of Media), Sweden
All things digital and how to profit from them - Daniel Rosen, head of AKQA Mobile, the interactive agency of the year in the United Kingdom.

Other conference highlights

Case studies of innovative and successful advertising initiatives from The Hindustan Times (India), Aftonbladet (Sweden), Northcliffe Media (United Kingdom) and Hürriyet (Turkey).
Advertising agency and newspaper views on improving advertising/publisher relationships and on the value of print, digital and multimedia advertising.
How to harness the power of viral marketing, social media and word-of-mouth.

The World Newspaper Advertising Conference will bring together hundreds of newspaper advertising professionals to examine new and proven ideas for increasing revenues and yields as the industry emerges from the global economic downturn. Full conference details can be found at www.wan-ifra.org/advertising2011.

The conference will be chaired by Ann Lown, head of Digital Partnerships, Archant Regional, United Kingdom, and Dietmar Schantin, executive director, Publishing, Editorial and General Management, WAN-IFRA.

The conference venue - the island of Malta - offers a unique experience packed with the best of all things Mediterranean: sunshine, stunning scenery, glorious architecture and a fascinating 7000 years of history. The island is located midway between Europe and Africa, off the boot of Italy, and is just a few hours' flying time from most mainland European cities.

The conference is sponsored by the Times of Malta.