Attracting youth readers - 2010 Readership Conference

18 Oct 2010

According to the 2010 Newsroom Barometer survey, conducted by McKinsey and Co. and the World Editors Forum, chief editors worldwide cited declining interest among young readers as the greatest threat to newspapers in the future. There are those, however, that are succeeding with younger audiences.

Attracting youth readers - 2010 Readership Conference

The best of them will share their strategies at the 12th Readership Conference & Expo, to be held in San Francisco, California, on 16 and 17 November 2010.

Developing audiences

The conference, organised by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), in cooperation with the Newspaper Association of America and the WAN-IFRA Newsplex, aims to help newspaper companies develop their audiences, both in print and on digital platforms.

That includes developing the younger demographic, and WAN-IFRA is bringing winners of its World Young Reader Prizes to a session on 'How to engage young readers and audiences.'

The World Young Reader Prizes aim to recognise newspaper companies that have devised the best projects and activities to promote newspaper reading and usage, on all platforms, among those under 25. Prizes will be awarded in San Francisco in eight categories: brand, editorial, making the news, newspapers in education, public service, connecting with mobile, research-based strategies, and enduring excellence.

More on the 2010 Newsroom Barometer survey

Speakers in the session include:

Joanna Parczynska, publisher, and Waldemar Pas, editor-in-chief, Metro, Poland, the 2010 World Young Reader Newspaper of the Year; Sunny Joseph, chief sub-editor, Editorial Division, and director of the Yuva Project at the Malayala Manorama in India; and Reese Chiavari, creative director, Teenlink, Sun Sentinel, (Florida, USA).

Metro is the largest newspaper in Poland among readers 15-24, thanks to its "Total Youth Think" approach that provides practical information for its younger readers. The Malayala Manorama engages its younger readers through promoting education and debate over controversial issues of interest to the young. And Teenlink, the Sun-Sentinel's youth edition, delivers sports, school and entertainment news and advertising to students ages 14-18 at their secondary schools.

For full conference details, go to www.wan-ifra.org/readership-conference.

The event plans to also showcase exhibitors who provide solutions for reaching and increasing audiences across publishing platforms.