Marva Media and Anygraaf at the forefront of digital media

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(Oktober 2015) Marva Media, a Western Finland based media company, makes significant investments into developing digital media products. The company has set up MarvaLab as the digital development arm of the company. MarvaLab makes a smooth fusion of a 110 year old newspaper and the latest in digital services.
Digital producer Maija Männistö, development manager Lauri Tuomola and sales manager Mika Kivilähde. Image: Juha Sinisalo
”In 2013 we made a decision to offer our 14 000 readers a chance to read a digital edition of our newspaper Länsi-Suomi. We didn’t sell this possibility as an added extra but offered this digital service to all our subscribers through registration right from its launch in January 2014”, says Marva Lab’s Digital Business Development Manager Lauri Tuomola.
”Our readers welcomed our service and our readership grew at a good pace throughout the year. At the end of 2014 we took the next step and offered a digital only –subscription. From the outset it was clear that a digital edition by itself would not be enough and that we needed something more to offer. For this purpose we launched a new responsive website laced with our Plus-services and more importantly, the Länsi-Suomi Today’s Paper (LS Päivän lehti ) application developed with Anygraaf”, Tuomola continues.
LS Päivän lehti Application is built on the AnyReader platform. Anygraaf helped us greatly in deploying this product by contacting application vendors and helping in technical matters. At the moment the cooperation between Marva Media and Anygraaf is focused on the AnyReader application and its development. Even in its current version it is an excellent way of reading your daily paper, but it will be improved further pending feedback from customers this summer.
Long term cooperation with Anygraaf
Marva Media has been cooperating with Anygraaf for some time. Most recently, at the end of 2013 their editorial system was updated from Doris to Neo, which enabled them to start developing future plans with Anygraaf’s new digital products. Simultaneously they also deployed Anygraaf’s AProfit ad system. Anygraaf’s extensive product range was a factor in Marva’s decision to continue their good relationship with Anygraaf.
”Anygraaf has had a significant role in the development of our digital services enabling us to publish multichannel content from our editorial system”, Tuomola continues.
Migration into the realm of Applications can’t be made much easier than this. Our printed paper is automatically transformed into a mobile application, at the same time offering us a tool to easily enrich the content of the printed version with for example more pictures”, Tuomola praises.
Continued media evolution expected
”The development of digital media has only just started and the world is far from being ready. Rather than a shift from one model to another, the future of media will be that of constant change. Local media must stick to their strengths even if publishing in general and channels in particular keep evolving rapidly. We at Marva Media believe that there will be a market for good quality local media also in the future, but that we need to prepare for this by developing content for all channels”, visions Tuomola.
Digital is a challenge for content. Digital and especially mobile require different content from that of traditional media.
“For this reason every story needs to be thought through from at least two perspectives. At the moment we are thinking about our processes, even publishing stories regardless of the schedules of printed media”, Tuomola contemplates.
”Digital challenges content”
Mobile use is growing by leaps and bounds. Newest research shows that mobile broadband use in Finland ranks globally at the top end. Net services need to take this into account and invest more than ever into the mobile market. At the end of 2011 3% of Marva Media’s internet service usage was by mobile devices, but today that percentage is between 40 and 55% depending on the service.
”Our editorial team is becoming more and more digital taking it into account in everything they do. We take digital into account in our planning, making sure that content works well also in the digital side”, Tuomola says.