"Mobile has clearly emerged as the main driver of growth in the news business, increasing audiences, revenues and markets and having a profound impact on news production," said Vincent Peyrègne, CEO of WAN-IFRA. "Mobile usage is exploding and is on its way to becoming the majority of all digital media activity. This conference will provide news executives with an opportunity to hear from those at the forefront of these developments."
According to several industry forecasts, mobile revenues could reach more than 70 billion dollars globally by 2017. News apps are envisaged to take up to five per cent of this market in 2017, or nearly 3.5 billion dollars. Consumers now spend more than two hours a day with mobile, ahead of television, the desktop, radio or print.
The Mobile News Summit, #MNS15 - formerly known as the Tablet & Apps Summit - will examine mobile advertising, editorial, emerging platforms including wearables, and much more.
Speakers include:
* Jamie Credland, Global Head of Client Marketing for The Economist, and Edouard Andrieu, Director of Mobile for Le Monde in France, in a session on the intense competition of "morning briefing" apps. Both publications have created sophisticated daily morning apps that provide their own editorial rhythm and context.
* Staffan Engström, Head of Mobile for Schibsted, who will provide a case study on the innovations the leading international publisher (6900 employees in 29 countries) is providing in mobile ads.
* Julia Beizer, Director of Mobile Products for The Washington Post, who will speak in a session dedicated to opportunities for publishers in "wearables" like the Apple Watch. For The Post, the Apple Watch is providing a "living lab" platform to test new forms of storytelling and technology. The conference will also include a panel discussion on whether such platforms are really changing the news industry.
* Andreas Fuhlisch, Managing Director & Partner of Media Plus Group, and Craig Hyde, Co-Founder and President of Rigor, in a session on what's new in mobile advertising.
* Plus others. Full details can be found here.
The Mobile News Summit is just one of myriad conferences, workshops and study tours occurring in Hamburg from 5 to 7 October around the World Publishing Expo, the global trade exhibition for news publishers organized by WAN-IFRA. Nearly 7,000 visitors from 100 countries attended last year's event, says WAN-IFRA.
Among the other events are the International Newsroom Summit on 5 October and the World Printers Forum conference on 7 October.
