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Asian Newspaper Focus 09/10_2014

7 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2014 Enhanced digital storytelling Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) has introduced in recent months a series of digital products that aim to seduce readers and users with richer multimedia content adapted to each specific device or platform. New conveying and bundling technology HPC High Performance Conveyor Designed for the transport of newspaper products from A to B at speeds up to 90,000 cph. Fast return on invest ment, zero maintenance, Made in Switzerland quality. HPS High Performance Stacker A proven concept based on MultiStack technology with a maximum 25 bundles/min. Easy to operate and program, low operating costs. ferag… WRH Marketing Asia Pte Ltd 5 Tampines Central 1, #03-01 Tampines Plaza Singapore 529541 Phone +65 6333 0330 Fax +65 6333 0880 info@wrh-marketing-asia.com www.wrh-marketing-asia.com SPH’s flagship newspaper, The Straits Times, intro-duced in June a new mobile app for the iPad and Android tablet devices only. The ST Star app houses a collection of digital publications, starting with The Life, a monthly magazine packed with articles on style, design, pursuits, travel and food. “Our approach in ST Star is to reimagine storytelling. The digital space allows us to create beautiful, exciting experiences for our readers and we hope they will join us in this journey,” said associate editor Sumiko Tan, who is editor of the ST Digital team. Through the app, readers can explore exclusive fea-tures from the paper’s journalists, photographers and videographers, all brought to life in a sophisticated blend of text, visuals and interactive elements. The e-publica-tions in the app are designed for tablets and optimised for the iPad. Other e-books will also be launched in the ST Star app. They will contain a mix of short and long reads with beautiful visuals, packaged for a relaxed, lean-back read-ing experience on tablets. Serving digital communities across platforms The ST Star app marked a significant step into digital publishing for The Straits Times, which is continually in-tending to enhance its digital offerings. The app is con-ceived as an extension of The Straits Times Appreciates Readers (Star) programme, an ongoing effort to reach out to readers and the community. In May, the newspaper had launched a digital Educa-tion Community (stcommunities.sg/education), where readers can post their views and stories, and upload pic-tures and videos. The first of the ST Communities was Entertainment (stcommunities.straitstimes.com/), which won gold in the Best in Social Media category at the 2013 Asian Digital Media Awards organised by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers. The Straits Times website - www.straitstimes.com - was updated in April. A main feature was the introduc-tion of full-fledged section pages for Singapore, Politics, Asia, World, Business, Opinion, Sport, Digital Life and Lifestyle. The Straits Times Digital team, which produces the website and content for the newspaper’s mobile apps, has also launched “Web specials” on straitstimes.com. These are stories exclusive to the digital platform that in-clude interactive graphics, photo galleries and blogs. In another first for the Singapore media group, the ST Digital team ventured into long-form multimedia sto-rytelling in April with Lost: Untold Stories Of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. This Web special captured the mile-stones in the search for the missing plane through a nar-rative told in six chapters, with videos and interactive graphics. New paid app for The New Paper Following The Straits Times, The Business Times and Berita Harian, SPH’s tabloid The New Paper (TNP) has also launched its multi-platform paid editions on iOS and An-droid apps in June. The apps garnered more than 20,000 downloads in the first 3 weeks, claims SPH. The cost for the new All-in-One price package for TNP’s print, online and smartphone platforms amounts to SGD 24.10 a month and includes the new TNP inter-active ePaper. Other subscription options are the print package ($20.10 monthly, exclusive of delivery fee), the online only package ($22.10 monthly) and the smart-phone package ($22.10 monthly). “Our readers are looking for interesting content to sit back and enjoy on their mobile devices,” said Straits Times editor Warren Fernandez. “Our newsroom has been gearing up to meet this need, finding new ways to tell great stories in words, pictures, videos. Our aim is to make the most of what we can do on each platform that we serve readers on.” FEATURE


Asian Newspaper Focus 09/10_2014
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