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 The 20th PDA conference on Print and Electronic Mass Media Market Now and in the Future was launched on April 10th in Eilat (Israel). Over 100 representatives from the leading publishing houses and distribution companies from Russia and CIS countries participated in the conference.
The PDA chairman of the board, Alexander Oskin,
opened the conference.
Alexander Oskin spoke in detail about the implications of active penetration of digital media into everyday life, and the future of print and electronic mass media.
The deputy managing director of the Federal Agency for Print and Mass Media and PDA board member, Mr. Kudy, talked about the role of traditional print mass media today and in the future in his video address. In his opinion, the economic model of print mass media (selling paper copies and attracting advertisers based on circulation) remains dominant.
The CEO of the United Press Publishing House Sanoma Independent Media, Ms. Shalygina, gave a presentation on “The print mass media and Internet: How to find one’s place in the new environment”. According to Ms. Shalygina, the total readership of print mass media is more or less stable or might be even slightly increasing. However, the proportion of young readers (16-19 years old) is rapidly decreasing due to the wide spread of Internet as well as demographic factors (there was a decline in fertility rate in the early 90ies).
The executive director of Informburo (Tver), Mr. Kondrashev, talked about "The risks and options of print mass media distribution". He assessed prospects for the survival of print mass media with a certain degree of pessimism. The financial state of print mass media companies has deteriorated significantly in recent years due to a series of new legislative acts.
Mr. Kondrashev’s presentation was supplemented by the head of the PDA subscription working group, Mr. Klokov. He said that the State Duma is currently preparing legislative acts that may ease the tax burden on distributors.
The CEO of Kommersant-Press and PDA board member, Mr. Shadrin, talked about the relationships between the print mass media market participants. He commended the Press Distributors Association for organizing the conference. In his opinion, PDA conferences have become a place for exchanging experience, presenting new ideas, developing constructive proposals to modernize the industry, and improving the relationships between publishers and distributors.
The roundtable "Retail sales of the print mass media: Status and Prospects" brought the first day of the conference to an end. The roundtable was facilitated by Mr. Popov, CEO of Tsentropechat and PDA vice president (Moscow); Ms. Vasilyeva, executive director of Neva-Press and PDA board member (St. Petersburg); Mr. Wernick, executive director of Rospechat (Saratov).
     
Source: PDA Press Service |
