07 - 09 April 2021
Virtual

Business unusual: leading amid change and transition

All times are in GMT+8 (Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Beijing, Hong Kong, Taiwan)

April 7 Wednesday

10:00

Welcome Remarks

Chair
Founder & CEO, Web3 Builder, Terminal 3, Hong Kong
10:15

The great reset

A “new normal” is emerging where business models must change or evolve as audience behaviours shift and newsrooms work in a more distributed fashion to ensure workplace health and safety. Top news executives mull what the year holds in terms of operational and cultural change and what this means for a post-pandemic future. Find out how news publishers are reorganising, restructuring and preparing for a sustainable media business post-Covid.

Moderator
Founder & CEO, Web3 Builder, Terminal 3, Hong Kong
Speakers
Publisher, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Vice CEO, Kompas Gramedia Group
Publisher and CEO, The Globe and Mail, Canada
11:30

Publishers Toolbox | The importance of user loyalty and retention

Many publishers in Asia are running various initiatives to understand their readers in-depth and drive higher loyalty and retention.  Join a panel discussion featuring leaders from South China Morning Post, Singapore Press Holdings, MediaCorp, and REV Media Group. They share their perspectives on using a data-informed approach to evolve their business and better serve every reader.

Moderator
Customer Success Manager (Channel Partner Asia), Chartbeat
Speakers
Digital Editor, The Business Times, Singapore Press Holdings
Head of Commerce & Optimization, REV Media Group, Malaysia
VP of Data, South China Morning Post
Brought to you by
12:00

Visit our virtual marketplace for your technology solutions and IT needs

15:00

Deep Dive | Transforming news and newsroom cultures in the digital era

Covid-19 is accelerating the shift from print towards digital and from advertising towards subscription revenue. Consultant and researcher George Brock walks you through a checklist of key actions to guarantee success in digital publishing. The session will feature recent examples from the WAN-IFRA Newsroom & Business Transformation Asia 2020 programme.

Moderator
Media Consultant and Researcher
Speakers
Deputy Editor-in-chief, The Jakarta Post
President & CEO, Philippine Daily Inquirer
Brought to you by
15:30

Managing media companies in uncertain times

With the Covid-19 pandemic accelerating the demise of some traditional business models, it is also presenting new opportunities to those ready to seize them. Business leaders share how they are powering this transition, reframing the culture in their organisations, and making the case for more diversity, equity and inclusion.

Moderator
Founder, VanMedia Group
Speakers
President Director, Antara, Indonesia
Managing Director & Publishing Director, Le Parisien - Aujourd’hui en France (Today in France)
President, NWT Media, Sweden
15:30

Visit our virtual marketplace for your technology solutions and IT needs

April 8 Thursday

10:00

From content-centric to audience-centric: a data-led approach to better products

Knowing one’s audience provides insights to create products to meet real needs. Find out how understanding audience trends and habits helps to inform one’s news product portfolio – with surprising results!

Moderator
Director, Digital Skills Agency, Australia
Speakers
Interim Executive Director, News Product Alliance
Chief Product Officer, SPH Media Ltd, Singapore
Chief Operating Officer, REV Media Group & Technology Transformation Officer, Media Prima Berhad, Malaysia
11:00

Deep Dive | Designing experiments to become subscription-first

In this session, Rohan Tiwary, Head of Media, News & Entertainment Partnerships, APAC, will share how Google is partnering with news publishers in elevating quality journalism and supporting evolving business models. He will be joined by Sheena Bhalla from Google and Uma Patel from FT Strategies to share insights and results from the GNI Subscriptions Labs and participants’ ongoing efforts towards sustainable reader revenue growth.

Chair
Head of Media, News & Entertainment Partnerships, APAC, Google Asia Pacific, Singapore
Data & innovation Strategy, Google News Initiative, APAC
Brought to you by
12:00

Visit our virtual marketplace for your technology solutions and IT needs

15:00

Publisher Insights | The numbers that matter and how to use them

This session features Piano’s latest research on acquisition and retention, including the COVID-19 pandemic subscription surge and best practice recommendations. Tim Rowell, Piano’s General Manager, APAC will share data and insights from Piano’s subscription benchmarks. 

Moderator
Deputy Sales Director, Global Events, WAN-IFRA
Speakers
GM, Piano APAC
Brought to you by
15:30

Supporting Asia's News Industry - Facebook News Partnerships

Anjali Kapoor, Director of News Partnerships, APAC, shares Facebook’s commitment to supporting journalism and news organizations in Asia-Pacific as they adapt to the changing digital world. She’ll detail how Facebook helps to support publishers to build sustainable businesses – from helping them grow audiences through free distribution to using Facebook’s features to monetize their content. Anjali will also share some insights into future trends including how emerging technology will used to deepen engagement and consumption of media. 

Moderator
Regional Editorial Director, Power & Purpose and Business Director, Gen.T, Hong Kong
Speakers
Director of News Partnerships APAC, Meta
Brought to you by
15:30

Visit our virtual marketplace for your technology solutions and IT needs

16:00

Revenue-generating ideas that work

Covid-19 has reinforced the need for publishers to diversify their revenue sources. Prof Damian Radcliffe, author of the report on “50 Ways to Make Media Pay”, will elaborate on 10 revenue verticals you need to consider. Across the Atlantic, Swedish group, Bonnier News Local, has a systematic strategy for its 42 newly-acquired local and regional newspapers by banking on reader revenue and the kinds of content that pays. At WARC Asia, a bold move to overhaul publication strategy when the pandemic hit paid off, supporting double-digit billings growth. Find out what works, and what doesn’t, plus other clever ideas in this session!

Moderator
MONEY FM 89.3 Presenter, SPH Radio
Speakers
Professor & Fellow, University of Oregon, Columbia University, USA
Pia_Rehnquist
Business Area Manager, Bonnier News Local, Sweden
Group COO (Group Strategy and Content), Media Chinese International, Malaysia

April 9 Friday

10:00

The newsroom of the future

Top editors offer their predictions on how newsrooms will look like and operate once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted. They will share how their newsrooms have coped with the pandemic and the lessons drawn from the experience.

Moderator
Editor Jefe, The Straits Times y English/Malay/Tamil Media Group,, SPH Media Trust, Singapur
Speakers
Co-Founder and CEO, The Quint, India
Chief Editorial Officer, Organización Editorial Mexicana, Mexico
Editor in Chief, South China Morning Post Publishing
Supported by
11:30

Solutions Showcase

Looking for new digital tools for your workplace? Heard of solutions that other publishers use? The Solutions Showcase is where you’ll get the opportunity to get a peek at the tools and technology others are talking about. Each speaker will present a 10-minute demo, after which you are welcome to visit their booth at our virtual marketplace, collect brochures and links, and even have a text chat or face-to-face online call with them!

What’s more – once you’re on a call, you’ll be able to generate a unique link (valid for a few minutes) and send it to a colleague or friend who may not be registered on our virtual platform, to join the chat! It’s super easy to get your questions answered! Drop by the virtual marketplace daily 1200-1300 and 1530-1730 SIN/HK to visit our exhibitors who are proudly supporting the Asian Media Leaders eSummit!

Speakers
Customer Success Manager (Channel Partner Asia), Chartbeat
General Manager APAC, Eidosmedia
12:00

Visit our virtual marketplace for your technology solutions and IT needs

15:00

Publishers Toolbox | Starting from scratch: Editoriale Domani's green field journey in setting up a news site and national daily paper

Launched in September 2020, Editoriale Domani, is building an Italian news publication in print and digital that is new and refreshing in the European media landscape, with a strong emphasis on editorial quality, investigative work, opinion and commentaries. With efficiency as one of their key drivers, hear how the team set up their ideal newsroom which is optimised for both web and print publication.

Moderator
Head of Marketing, Sustainability and Business Development EMEA, Atex, Italy
Speakers
Editor-in-Chief, Domani, Italy
Marketing Director & Product Manager, Atex
Brought to you by
15:30

Visit our virtual marketplace for your technology solutions and IT needs

15:45

Looking from the outside in: learning from other innovators and disruptors

Going from hot to hotter, Haidilao added 530 new steamboat restaurants in China and globally last year. It now has nearly 1,300 outlets. What’s its recipe for success? Find out from its Executive Director and Chief Strategy Officer, Dr Zhou Zhaocheng, once a nearly 20-year veteran at Singapore Press Holdings.

In India, a pair of former colleagues at The Hindu, bought the world’s most expensive piece of digital art recently for US$69.3 million worth of Ethereum. We hear from Twobadour, the ex-journalist with thehindu.com, CNN-IBN and Times Group of India, who is now the steward of the world’s largest non-fungible token (NFT) fund, Metapurse.

Strategies, lessons and success stories in this age of fickle consumer tastes and distraction from two media professionals now making their name in new roles and industries.

Moderator
Asia Editor, WARC

Empowering company media platforms through a service-centric approach

Dr Zhou Zhaocheng on how Haidilao provides service-centric content to its large customer base through its restaurants and other media platforms – converting customers to readers and readers to customers, expanding both bases in the process

Speakers
Executive Director, & Chief Strategy Officer, Haidilao International Holding

The Media is Decentralized, Not Dead

Twobadour will share his journey from journalism to PR ignominy to pseudonymity and global acclaim. Additionally, he will share a new vision for media ownership and business models based on blockchain technology.

Speakers
Steward, Metapurse

Platinum Sponsors

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsor

Media Partners

Wilson Leong

General Enquiries / Registration

wilson.leong@wan-ifra.org

Janet Wee

Sponsorship & Exhibition

janet.wee@wan-ifra.org