The focus was on digital revenue at ppi Media's Opendays event in Hamburg.

More than 160 delegates heard presentations on strategies to meet the challenges of an industry in flux. Participants also presented success stories from the print industry, with international speakers also giving insights into the Indian newspaper market and the Arab magazine industry.

Chief executive of Bremer Tageszeitungen Eric Dauphin and colleagues told of digital strategies used by Weser-Kurier Media, and showed an app called Mein Werder which introduces local personalitities. The Content-X editorial system has been incorporated into their project development as a central content hub.

Rainer Zimmer, managing director at Nordkurier Druck and head of IT services at the Nordkurier Media Group, had already introduced the Lokalfuchs, a portfolio of services and products aimed at strengthening local businesses. Partners are able to push current offers via a Lokalfuchs app - based on ppi Media's location-based thanks online service.

More innovations came from Ute Becker, managing director of OWL-Digital, who showed how extensive mobile media use posed both a challenge and an opportunity for publishers. ppi Media's Manuel Scheyda explained the "design thinking" method, and how they could use the principle to quickly develop new, relevant products. Workshops on the principle are organised by ppi as part of their innovation camps.

Frank Mahlberg, managing director of Bild Print and BZ, turned to opportunities for growth in the print market, demonstrating how - despite current structural decline -even print can provide opportunities for growth. He showed how, with sports paper Fussball Bild, successful new print products could be created by focussing and specialising on relevant content.

There were also insights from Kiel-based special interest magazine publisher Falkemedia Group, and from Sandeep Gupta, executive president of Jagran Prakashan, which publishes Dainik Jagran, one of the most widely-read dailies in the world. From the Gulf, Sayidaty editor-in-chief Mohammed Fahad Al- Harthi told of the international success of the womens' magazine, published in Arabic and in English.

Claus Harders - head of key account management at ppi Media - introduced new product developments and customer projects, and there was a varied evening program for guests.

The next ppi Open Days will take place from June 4-5, 2018.

Pictured: ppi senior innovation manager Corinna Coverly explains a smartphone app