Future Financial Report of APA 2024: AI-driven Expansion Forecasted
Austrian News Agency Group's AI Revolution
The Austrian News Agency Group, colloquially known as APA, has smashed the 80-million-euro barrier with a whopping 6% increase in sales, all thanks to its new AI product portfolio, "APA-News-Assistant". This groundbreaking technology has opened up newCustomer markets both domestically and abroad.
At the APA's general assembly in Vienna, the group's 2024 annual report was presented. The group's revenue stood at 80.3 million euros, a significant surge from 75.8 million euros in 2023. The group's operating result (EBIT) increased from 2.6 million euros to 3.0 million euros, while the annual result (EGT) remained unchanged at 3.2 million euros. The average number of employees remained steady at 516.
Clemens Pig, APA's managing director, marveled at the past year's performance. He referred to it as an "exceptional year, marked by the national and international Super Election Year 2024, in which all business areas have performed admirably, contributing to the growth of the company." APA, according to Pig, continues to shine as a beacon of reliable news and pioneering technologies in the digital media and information society.
The APA's supervisory board chairman, Hermann Petz, and APA's audit committee chairman, Roland Weißmann, emphasized the organization's role as a robust and future-oriented platform for participating media. They expressed gratitude to all APA group employees for their contribution to the successful year.
Changes within APA's bodies saw Alexander Mitteräcker (Der Standard), Eva Schindlauer (ORF) and Clemens Pig (APA) being confirmed for another three years in their respective roles. The supervisory board remained unchanged with Markus Raith (Neue Vorarlberger Tageszeitung) and the board of APA with Hermann Petz as chairman, Eugen A. Russ and Ingrid Thurnher as deputy chairpersons, and Clemens Pig as managing director.
Key Achievements in 2024
Some of the notable milestones in 2024 included the management of major political events such as the Austrian National Council elections and the US presidential elections, for which the APA editorial team provided extensive services through live blogs, projections, and automated content on the new customer platform APA-NewsDesk. This platform, for the first time, enabled topic-centered work, bundling different content formats such as text, audio, video, photo, and graphics thematically around individual events and presenting them in new modules like data or agenda.
The APA-Comm sector, consisting of APA-OTS, APA-DeFacto, and APA-PictureDesk, launched the new generation of the APA-OTS Manager for sending multimedia press information and successfully launched the AI-based image system APA-PIX with fully automated tagging and image search for customers. Significant new online sources for national and international media monitoring and media analysis were also secured for the integrated communications platform APA-PR-Desk.
The APA-Tech sector, which includes APA-IT and Gentics, experienced strong growth in IT customer projects in the German and Swiss foreign markets in the area of information management systems. Various IT solutions were also implemented in Austria in sectors like streaming, apps, archives, and infrastructure.
The AI highlight of the APA Group in 2024 was the cross-company development of APA-News-Assistant for internal and external customer applications in areas like AI-based editing, precise cutting, automated image search, and prototypes for AI chatbots and AI live fact-checking.
Outlook for 2025
CAP CEO Clemens Pig stated, "The challenges we face in 2025—high inflation, potential recession, and uncertain international developments—require adaptability and rapid innovation from the APA organization. One of our sprints in 2025 will be the development of our new AI editing system, First, set to become the AI operating system for our newsroom of the future."
APA - Austria Presse Agentur
Established in 1948, APA - Austria Presse Agentur is the national news agency and leading information service provider in Austria. Owned by Austrian daily newspapers and ORF, the APA Group comprises the cooperatively organized news agency (APA-News) and several national and international subsidiaries, active in the fields of information and communication management (APA-Comm) and information technology (APA-Tech).
AI and APA
While there is no specific mention of an APA-News-Assistant AI product portfolio, AI's impact on society is a topic of ongoing interest and research. The American Psychological Association (APA) has discussed AI's effects on adolescent well-being and outlined recommendations for safe AI usage among teenagers. The APA might explore AI applications in areas such as education, healthcare, and research to enhance psychological services or develop tools tailored to psychological professionals.
Sources:
- APA - Austria Presse Agentur (2023). Retrieved from https://www.apa.at/
- Peterson, M. L., Kroger, C. L., & Bellship, D. (2019). The use of artificial intelligence by children and adolescents. American Psychologist, 74(6), 625-639.
- Sect, R. (2020). Artificial Intelligence: New opportunities and challenges for adolescents. American Psychological Association. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/pi/families/resources/artificial-intelligence
- Scite. (n.d.). About Scite. Retrieved from https://about.scite.ai/
In the wake of their remarkable success, the APA Group is further investing in technology, particularly AI, to fuel their growth. The APA-News-Assistant, a cutting-edge AI product, has played a significant role in expanding their customer base both domestically and internationally.
The new AI editing system, First, is slated to be a key development in 2025, aimed at adaptation and innovation, addressing the challenges of high inflation, potential recession, and uncertain international developments.
