Here are some of the questions and answers from the webinar:

 

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Question: “Have you been operating web-tv or local tv in the past and is there a demand from users now for more video and live tv?”

 

Björn Widstrand: “Yes, we have tried before with news summaries in a tv-format and that has turned out quite well. We may start that again. However we will probably do it in another way. I am not exactly sure how it will turn out.”

 

Question: “You started your presentation, saying that it is super important that advertisers understand that VK Media is a mediahouse “with meaning”, that you exist in a context and that you are NOT just after eyeballs and in the future you must stay relevant! Are you active in branding and marketing (the VK and VK Media brands) and how do you go about that?”

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Björn Widstrand: “Yes, as I said, it's very important for us as a sales department. We are not always doing it, but we often work on making advertisers understand how important we are in the region. It's a USP - Unique Selling Point - for us to talk about us as a “media house with a meaning” and why we are here and what we want to do in our society and community.”

 

Question: “You mentioned that you have 17 employees in sales out of a total of 140 (12%). Can you tell us how many software developers you have?”

Björn Widstrand: “I think between five and ten. It is hard when we sit here up in Umeå and look out. We have to be as good as the app next to us, whether it is facebook or whatever. They have the best people in California.”

 

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Question: “Is it possible for you to tell us, overall, how much revenue you get from the different ad products?”

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Björn Widstrand: "Programmatic advertising is the biggest revenue source. I think that the split between programmatic (national) and local is about 50/50. In total sales revenue was seven million Euros.”

 

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Question: “Usually programmatic provides low CPMs versus direct sales. How do you manage to have decent CPMs?

 

Björn Widstrand: "I'm not the best at answering that question. But yes you get low CPMs. So you need a floor of course. But we can also buy it cheap when we resell”

 

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Question: “How are you dealing with the paradox of being dependent on and at the same time competing with big tech competition and do you have plans to innovate with EU-tech?”

 

Björn Widstrand: "We stand alone and at the same time, we cooperate with the large media groups.”

 

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Question: “is there an opportunity for independent local newspapers in Europe, like yourself, to partner.  Imagine the “independent newspapers of Europe.”

 

Björn Widstrand: "Yes, why not?”

 

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Question: “How do you explain the international success of your digital agency “Grit?”. 

 

Björn Widstrand: "I don't really know exactly but they are simply doing a great job. We acquired the company in January this year.”

 

Question: “Tell us more about how you produce native?”. 

 

Björn Widstrand: "We have one commercial editor and this person produces almost all of the native stuff. It's all done internally. The advertiser can provide text. However, we keep to certain standards.”

 

Question: “Do you have any plans to integrate self-service for customers up to € 500?”. 

 

Björn Widstrand: "Yes, we have self-service for them”. And this is followed by an impressive demonstration of the self service platform of VK Media where advertisers can create an account, choose product, target group, format, number of views and then get feedback with results and analytics. Check it in the video at 37 min and 47 seconds.”