Alimarket’s magazines expands web presence with XTENT
Spanish publisher Alimarket’s Magazines initially invested in Seinet’s XTENT PLUS to improve its editorial workflows for its printed products but has also been able to move seamlessly onto the Web through the XTENT PREMIUM.
Alimarket’s Magazines publishes a diverse range of magazines, bulletins and annual reports, covering mainly the food, construction and tourism markets, as well as domestic appliances, electronics, packaging, transport, logistics and health care. It was established in 1982 and has more than a hundred employees, including 60 journalists.
Initially the system was acquired just for the print magazines. But earlier this year, when Alimarket decided to launch a new Portal, XTENT Publishing System meant that Alimarket could use a single editorial system to publish across print, web and mobile media.
Juan Carlos Matarrubia, content director of Alimarket’s Magazines, says: “The launch of the new Portal has been very quick and much easier than if we had chosen a different system. Having the same editorial environment for the reporters and layout team allows us to do both publications without having to hire anyone else for the new media.”
This has also made it easy to add other modules to, as Jose Alberto Porras, technology director of Alimarket’s Magazines, explains: “One of the biggest reasons that we choose XTENT PREMUM is because the internal structure of the software means that it is very easy to add new functionality through Java Script, to integrated process or third party applications, with the advantage that these developments will not be affected for future releases of the tool. We also guarantee that we are not limited and it is a tool that can grow in the future”.
In addition, Matarrubia notes that employees are better motivated because they find the editorial system easier to use, adding: “The training has been very quick and easy, with people saying that XTENT PREMIUM is very intuitive to use. The web editor is the same for both media with the advantage that there are tags that are only for online use, so that you can use different photos for different print and web media.”
All of the print content is reused online, but the magazine articles with their pictures and tables are first adapted to make them more suitable for use on the web. Some news is written specifically for the websites, and some news is also taken from the print media and used as premium content for subscription customers. Alimarket has also been able to archive all of its past content on its website, which is easily searchable, giving subscribers extra value.
The overall result is that the editorial workflow has moved from a manual approval process for print to a controlled and organized workflow for multiple media that reporters and designers can work on simultaneously, with the whole system logged so that anyone can see the progress of the production in real time. Adding XTENT PREMIUM has given Alimarket’s Magazines new business lines generating online advertising income, all from the same staff and using the same content and editorial system, producing multiple synergies.
Juan Navarro , president of Alimarket’s Magazines, concludes: “In the process we started some years ago to integrate our content, we needed to do a strategic bet in new digital business lines or think about a resizing for the future. In this bet for new digital publications, XTENT has helped us by facilitating a real cross media environment that has allowed us to produce eight publications on the web, daily updated and with value-added services without increasing the news room staff”
