Magazine/newspaper hybrid wave of the future?

Paris, 25 April 2007
For immediate release

A new Austrian daily blurs the lines between newspapers and magazines, and some say this is the future for newspapers in general. Gert Edlinger, the Managing Director of Osterreich, will discuss the innovative format and content strategy at the World Newspaper Congress, to be held in Cape Town, South Africa, from 3 to 6 June next (http://www.wan-press.org/capetown2007).

The compact, full-colour Osterreich, launched in September 2006 in one of the most concentrated newspaper markets in Europe, mixes magazine and newspaper styles in one package, with several sections printed on glossy paper and stapled on the spine. These are not typical magazine inserts: theyare daily sections, with daily deadlines that are paginated and printed along with the other daily sections.

To use both newspaper and magazine quality paper in the same publication, Osterreich and its printing partners had to develop an innovative printing and workflow system that allows for both cold and heat set processes during the same printing run. The newspaper claims to be the first to use this technology.

The high-quality paper allows the newspaper to attract a new brand of luxury goods and other advertisers who insist on magazine quality for their ads.

Mr Edlinger will present the case of Osterreich during a session on Shaping the Future of the Newspaper at the Congress, which will examine new print products, new digital revenue generation, the best advertising strategies and the reorganisation of newspaper companies for the multi-platform newspaper.