Océ, Stroma and Newspaper Abroad bring good news to London readers
Océ production systems at heart of “growth opportunity” for printed newspapers
London, England, 12 July 2011 – Stroma and Newspaper Abroad, two pioneering companies in digital newspapers, today announced an agreement that will bring more international newspaper titles available the same morning to London for the first time. The partnership will ramp up production with 45 new titles printed from the London headquarters of Stroma, the digital printer with the widest range of newspapers from around the world being produced digitally in colour in London on a daily basis.
Agreement brings additions to 1400-strong newspaper title database
Already, Stroma – the company at the forefront of digital newspaper printing for more than a decade – has been printing between 50 and 60 titles a day from a 1400-strong newspaper database. The announcement is being made today at a newspaper industry event for an international audience near Heathrow followed by a live digital printing demonstration at Stroma in west London. Crucially, this will pave the way for new international newspapers to be made commercially available in London.
Publishers need to think of digital printing going forward
Andreas Qvist, Chief Executive and co-founder of Newspaper Abroad, said: “Until now, the newspapers had been flown in at prohibitive cost and then distributed the following day, which didn’t make sense particularly as there often was the problem of cancelled flights as well. Now virtually all the editions will be available to the reader before 7.30am. This is a fantastic project. International newspaper sales are important for publishers’ revenue streams and their readers while travelling or living abroad. They need to think of digital printing, as we have done, going forward.”
He added: “More and more publishers are outsourcing their international marketing and brand development opportunities to Newspaper Abroad, instead of having their own internal departments for their expatriate customers. And they also understand how we can source local advertising for them in the countries in which they operate abroad, which now includes London. Stroma and Océ are important print partners for us, particularly as they have worldwide reputations for digital excellence in the newspaper industry. And we are also planning other digital newspaper initiatives with Océ at other locations throughout the world.”
Newspaper sales forecast to rise by 25% with London digital production
Against a backdrop of falling sales for newspapers, Newspaper Abroad’s venture is expected to increase sales – currently ‘thousands of copies per day’ – by 25% within six months. The cover price will be on a par with prices in their homeland. Most new titles are Scandinavian, but also include titles from around the world currently unavailable the same day in London.
Important step forward for colour production of newspapers
Steve Brown, Managing Director of Stroma, said: “It’s great news and an important step forward for our digital colour production of newspapers in London. These international newspapers can be produced within 20 minutes of editorial shutdown in their home markets, thanks to technology that means the files are transferred by PDF over the internet.”
Printing digitally in colour locally cuts out crippling distribution costs
Craig Nethercott, Océ UK’s Director of Production Printing, said: “This new agreement is proof that the availability of full-colour digital printing is a serious growth opportunity for printed newspapers, particularly as it enables newspaper publishers to cut out crippling distribution costs while still offering distant readers the tactile and visual pleasures of a physical newspaper. The Océ JetStream inkjet colour production press opens up so many new doors for publishers – and, yes, it’s here now!”
Contact information
| For more information, please contact:|
Nick Gale
Manager Media Relations
Tel: +31 77 359 5628
Email nick.gale@oce.com
About Océ
Océ is one of the leading providers of document management and printing for professionals. The Océ offering includes office printing and copying systems, high speed digital production printers and wide format printing systems for both technical documentation and colour display graphics. Océ is also a foremost supplier of document management outsourcing. Many of the Fortune Global 500 companies and leading commercial printers are Océ customers. The company was founded in 1877. With headquarters in Venlo, The Netherlands, Océ is active in over 100 countries and employs some 20,000 people worldwide. Total revenues in financial 2010 amounted to approximately €2.7 billion. Océ is listed on Euronext in Amsterdam. For more information visit www.oce.com.
Océ and Canon: Stronger together
In 2010 Océ joined the Canon Group of companies with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, to create the global leader in the printing industry. Canon develops, manufactures and markets a growing line-up of copying machines, printers, cameras, optical and other products that meet a diverse range of customer needs. The Canon Group comprises over 197,000 employees worldwide. Global net sales in 2010 were more than USD 45 billion. For more information visit www.canon.com
About Newspaper Abroad
Newspaper Abroad is a pioneer in digital newspaper production, with daily morning distribution in London, Brussels, Luxembourg and Paris, as well as same day or following day all over the BeNeLux and France. It helps publishers to better serve their out-of-market readers on the global market, with increased revenue, lower costs and less administration. Its services include production, distribution, sales activities, fulfillment/subscription services and local advertizing. Newspaper Abroad distributes to embassies, offices, expats, press shops, retail shops, libraries, airports and hotels. The company works with partners around the world for production and distribution services in the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Thailand, Turkey, Iceland, Mallorca, Mauritius, South Africa, Germany and Greenland.
About Stroma
Stroma was launched in January 2001 to supply digital printing to London and the Home Counties. Stroma provides a fast, quality service coupled with great value for money. By May 2001 Stroma was the market leader in the Océ Digital Newspaper Network, printing and distributing international foreign newspaper titles from around the world for same day readership in the UK, negating the necessity for costly shipping into the UK. The company is recognized across the globe as a pioneer and market leader in digital production. It has branched out into book production, digital on-demand self-publishing, document management and on-demand printing of educational and technical study materials for the finance sector, as well as on-demand book production in general production.