SAN SALVADOR (August 30, 2022) – The media strategies, tools, and techniques that are driving revenue growth and transforming business models at Latin American media companies were the key focuses of a virtual regional conference by the International News Media Association (INMA).

Supported by the Google News Initiative, the virtual INMA Latin America News Media Conference, held August 25-26, drew a record 469 delegates from 28 countries.

The conference featured a mix of global experts and regional leaders focused on transformation, strategy, data, advertising, and global best practices uniquely tailored for Latin America.

Diverse discussions in these areas were led by experts from Bloomberg Linea, Clarín, El Comercio, Comscore, Exame, Gannett Media, InfoGlobo Comunicações, Organización Editorial Mexicana (OEM), and Vocento. Global keynotes from INMA on the state of the news industry and innovations in subscriptions rounded out the conference agenda.

Key takeaways from the six hours of programming included:

• Blueprints for transformation: Renato Mimica, CEO at Exame, told the story of the how the Brazilian media company transformed from a bi-weekly print business magazine to a multimedia company with 15 million unique Web site visits and an educational offering that now brings in 50% of its revenue. Frederic Kachar, CEO of InfoGlobo, told attendees the Brazilian media company transformed from a regional newspaper in 1925 to its current state as a mass media company by focusing on content creation, audience, and advertising. Maylis Chevalier, direct of innovation and digital products at Vocento in Spain, said the company turned its advertiser-centric business model into a user-centric business model as it work towards a goal of going from 47,000 active subscribers in 2020 to 250,000 in 2025.
• Strategies for growing digital subscribers: Maribel Perez Wadsworth, Gannett Media’s president and INMA’s global president, shared how the media company has increased digital subscriptions by 35% in one year. Wadsworth said Gannett, which owns USA Today and has 200+ media outlets in 45 U.S. states, has grown because it’s driven by data. Leonardo Dalera, chief analytics officer for Clarín, said the Argentinian media company relies on real-time and historical information to understand its users and has increased digital subscribers with a hard paywall.
• Plans for post-COVID sustainability: INMA Readers First Initiative Lead Greg Piechota shared five lessons media companies can learn from the pandemic, including how bold marketing accelerated growth and that the trade-off for fast growth is churn. Martha Ramos Sosa, general editorial director at the Organización Editorial Mexicana (OEM), which has outlets in 100 cities throughout Mexico, explained how the company pivoted its 10-year pre-pandemic transformation plan to include centralising, content strategies including newsletters, and internal culture changes.
• What data tells Latin American media companies about readers: Alejandro Fosk, senior vice president at Comscore, shared a deep dive into Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina. Giulianna Carranza, manager of data analytics at El Comercio, said the Peruvian media company has built its data culture on three pillars: content, readers, and conversion rates.

Registrants received access to the livestream along with all recordings and presentations associated with the INMA virtual conference.

Coverage of the INMA Latin America News Media Summit may be found at INMA.org.

About INMA

The International News Media Association (INMA) is a global community of market-leading news media companies reinventing how they engage audiences and grow revenue in a multimedia environment. The fast-growing INMA community consists of more than 20,000 executives at 900+ media companies in 83 countries. INMA is the news media industry’s foremost insights-sharing network with members connected via conferences, reports, Webinars, chats, and an unparalleled archive of best practices. INMA’s six initiatives provide unique and differentiating insights into digital subscriptions, product, newsrooms, data, advertising, and the news industry’s relationship with Big Tech platforms.