December 31 |
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NewspaperDirect Takes Local Papers Abroad
Source: Cisco Systems, iQ Magazine, Fourth Quarter 2004
 Despite a spate of online news sources, for many, one of life's luxuries remains sitting down to read the newspaper. Yet for business travelers, vacationers, and others away from home, getting a current copy of a local paper can be next to impossible. NewspaperDirect is changing all of this thanks to an innovative service offering made possible by leading-edge technology solutions. Using sophisticated print-on-demand systems, the Vancouver, Canada-based company is taking advantage of the Internet to offer sameday copies of more than 260 newspapers from around the globe at some 375 sites, including hotels, cruise ships, libraries, retailers, airports, and through more than 56 licensed distribution partners worldwide. InterContinental Hotels & Resorts and Norwegian Cruise Lines are among those using the service.
NewspaperDirect bills itself as a "digital delivery truck," offering publications such as the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Shanghai Daily, and Le Figaro the same day they're published for print subscribers in the local area.
"Instead of flying copies in and people buying them when they are three days old, it is possible to get the news immediately," says company cofounder and CEO Alex Kroogman.
Guests of hotels or cruise ships can get a same-day newspaper delivered to their room, while local residents can get a current paper delivered to their homes. In all cases, the newspaper is printed on tabloid-size paper, using NewspaperDirect's proprietary software and a standard laser printer. Every day, publishers transmit about five gigabytes of PDF files to NewspaperDirect, which individually processes them before making them available to print on demand globally.
"In the age of the Internet, people still like to read their newspapers," Kroogman says. "The irony is that technology helps to expand the reach of print in a way that was never before possible."
The backbone of the system consists of nearly three dozen servers along with two T-3 lines (one run over a satellite link) managed by a Cisco router. A proprietary back-office software application allows NewspaperDirect to identify how many copies of a newspaper have sold in a particular month, which newspapers produce the greatest revenues, and more. In addition, publishers can log on to the company's Web site to view sales trends.
NewspaperDirect has also introduced a Web-based newspaper reading service called PressDisplay.com, which displays about 200 titles at a cost of about $10 to $30 per month, depending on the number of editions a subscriber orders. This site provides online replicas of the actual print versions of the papers with exact pagination, layouts, photos, and advertisements.
"It's possible to read a newspaper at home, at work, on the road, or using Wi-Fi in a coffee shop or airport lounge," Kroogman says.
Founded in 1999, NewspaperDirect has grown at an annual rate of about 100%. Presently, its circulation base is growing at about 8% per month. The company currently boasts annual revenues of $1.8 million and has 34 employees. In the coming months, it hopes to collaborate with printer manufacturers to develop software that will allow home and business subscribers to print their favorite newspapers on demand via the Internet.
Turning Point
Newspaperdirect was the brainchild of a group of people, including Esther Dyson, Anatoly Karachinsky (the CEO of IBS Group), and Alex Kroogman. In 1999, they realized that it was usually impossible to obtain a same-day copy of a hometown newspaper while traveling. "You were forced to read it online and in an entirely different format than the print version," Kroogman says. The group began to explore ways to deliver content digitally and realized that networking technology, satellites, software, and laser printers could combine to result in a reading experience more akin to the real thing.
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