Innovation Award finalists to share success stories, lessons learned

Posted

Three finalists (listed below in alphabetical order) have been announced for the Mega-Innovation Award:

  • GateHouse LIVE – This event production company specializes in delivering world-class events for the media industry and the communities they serve. In 2015, GateHouse Media generated less than $1 million dollars in event-related revenue. GateHouse Live was rolled-out in 2016 and grew that revenue to $8 million the first year. GateHouse Live ended 2018 with over $42 million in revenue and over $18 million in EBITDA. 2019 projections are well over $60 million in revenue. Visit with them in Booths 821 and 823 at the Mega-Conference to hear how GateHouse LIVE can help your newspaper with events in your community.
  • Statesman Studio – In the summer of 2016, Austin360 (the entertainment branch of Statesman Media) launched a live video concert series: STUDIO SESSIONS.  The goal was to combine the skills of its video staff (editorial and marketing working together), put its renovated in-house video studio to use, bring audience together around music (Austin is the Live Music Center of the World, after all), and sell sponsorships. They've done all of that, and are just getting warmed up!
  • The Buffalo News – [BN]Tech is a division within The Buffalo News, a Berkshire Hathaway Company. In 2015 The Buffalo News was frustrated with the technology gaps that existed with the paywall technology it had purchased from a third-party paywall technology company. [BN]Tech was created to solve that problem with the goal of creating a platform that would maximize digital subscriber and remnant advertising revenue. Over the next two years the [BN]Tech team developed a proprietary IP-based paywall that largely closed the leakiness in The Buffalo News paywall, achieving consistent year-over-year growth in digital-only subscribers.  In May 2018, the staff began talking with other publishers who were experiencing the same lackluster growth in their digital-only subscribers. In 2019, they are continuing to build out the [BN]Tech platform and are actively working with many publishers to help show them the value of this technology. Visit with them in Booth 712 at the Mega-Conference.

The work of these finalists will be showcased and the winner will be announced on Tuesday, Feb. 26, at the Mega-Conference, to be held in Las Vegas, Nev.

The Mega-Innovation Award was created to identify and reward those companies that are successfully transitioning their businesses to take advantage of the emerging trends in media and marketing.

Watch for news about the winner of the 2019 Mega-Innovation Award at www.mega-conference.com, following the presentation.

Mega-Innovation Award
Calendar View all