In a bid to compete with Amazon’s growing digital empire, RTE has set itself apart by selling its newspapers as a service rather than a product.
It says it now has over 10 million customers in more than 60 countries and has seen a 20% drop in online traffic over the last six months.
RTE has decided to sell its newspapers instead of using them as a business and instead concentrate on its digital business.
Its newspapers are a huge asset for RTE, with customers in Spain, Italy, Germany, Spain and Japan spending more than €1,500 per year in subscriptions to its online publications.
RTE says the sales are a result of its strong advertising strategy.
“The newspaper business has been a huge part of our success.
We sell a lot of newspapers online and our customers love it,” said Jeroen Visser, senior managing director of RTE.”
It is a very big part of the business, so we have to be careful that we keep our newspapers separate from our digital business,” he added.
Rte’s chief financial officer, Jeroens van der Meij, said: “We have had a very good year, with growth of more than 50%.
But we also have a business that has been doing quite well for us and we need to ensure that we do not lose our paper business.”
Mr van der Merwe said that as part of its strategy RTE was increasing its digital sales and was building a network of digital distributors.
“This is a big step forward, but the biggest challenge will be the next step.
I am sure that we will see a gradual change in the digital business, which is what we are looking for, and we are working on that,” he said.
In its bid to capture the digital media market, RTV has set up a digital distribution network of its own and has also signed deals with major content companies to stream their digital content.
“We are now more than 40% online in Spain and we expect that will continue,” said Mr van der Meeuw.
A growing digital presence RTV says that digital advertising and content are a key part of it’s business model and the newspaper is a great example.
The newspaper said it would be opening new stores, online stores and social media platforms in the coming months to reach an even wider audience.
It has signed a deal with social media giant Instagram, where RTV said it will offer digital subscriptions and marketing support.
Mr Vissers claims that the newspaper’s digital strategy has allowed it to increase its sales in a way that rivals do not.
“Digital is an important part of what we do and we will be looking to expand in that area,” he told the RTE show.
What does it mean for RTV?
As part of RTV’s digital growth strategy, it is looking to offer digital products to readers and advertisers.
Last month RTV launched a digital platform called RTV.ie that enables readers to create, upload and share videos and images from their favourite programmes, documentaries and TV shows.
But what does that mean for the newspaper?
“It’s all about growing in a new direction,” said RTE’s Mr van de Meij.
“We want to be able to build an audience and we have got a fantastic team here.
We have got great brands that are passionate about RTE.”
What RTV sells The newspaper has been expanding its online presence in recent years.
Earlier this year, it launched an online store for its online editions and has recently signed deals to stream the digital content of some of its most popular shows and films.
This year RTV also has launched a website called www.rte.it for its news and current affairs programmes.
More than 30% of RTRs online customers are from Spain, with most customers in Germany, Italy and Spain.
However, RTRS online sales have declined in recent months, as more customers switch to online services.
How RTV plans to keep its newspaper business alive is unclear.
As the digital world continues to shift, RTe is looking for ways to keep it on top.
“In our current situation, we have not changed our business model.
Our core business is to provide a good digital experience for customers,” Mr van De Meij said.”
Our strategy has been to build a strong digital strategy.
We have been able to reach more customers in our print media business.
We want to build that back and we want to do that in a sustainable way,” he continued.
When will RTV start to change?
Mr Van De Meir said that RTR will continue to offer print newspapers in the future, but that digital and social sales were key to RTVs success.
“I don’t think that we are going to stop doing print.
I think that in the long term, we are