Sowetan Live
Posted on 28. Jul, 2010 by Graham in Headlines and Opinions
LAUNCH OF SOWETAN LIVE SEES SITE MOVE FORWARD WITH ITS READERS
After the successful relaunch of the Sowetan newspaper a year ago, Avusa Media LIVE launched the revamp of its digital home Sowetan LIVE, www.sowetanlive.co.za on July 21. This follows extensive research among its fast-moving and rapidly evolving users. A 76% year-on-year growth of the news site, according to Nielsen’s June 2010 rankings, indicates that the contemporary black community are very hungry for news, insights and advice that further empower them to be in the know and on the move.
Over and above research feedback, Avusa Media LIVE made key changes based on local and international trends in news sites and from learnings on sister sites such as Times LIVE. Key changes include a fresher and cleaner look and feel allowing users to find information more quickly and easily. The site facilitates more interactivity with users who can now comment on articles and share their favourite stories via Facebook and Twitter. There is also better multimedia integration with all relevant videos and audio clips and photo slideshows integrated into each article.
“The Sowetan news site is Avusa Media LIVE’s second biggest news site after Times LIVE. Its audience has grown from 247,236 unique users in June 2009 to 436,354 unique users in June this year, according to Nielsen’s latest figures,” says Elan Lohmann, general manager of Avusa Media LIVE.
“This is an audience that has arrived and is no longer limited by the past. They know what they want and where they are going and they are highly engaged online. It’s now time for Sowetan LIVE to move forward with its users as a trusted companion that empowers them with knowledge, shares their successes and connects them to their community.”
Reader research shows that the overall favourite content is breaking news, sport, community news, celebrity gossip including the Shwashwi column, weddings and engagement pages and columnists. An indication of how engaged this audience is with the site and the community driven spirit that the site engenders is the success of the weddings and engagements blogs. The blogs are purely showcases of readers’ babies and weddings and the influx of user contributions for both has been phenomenal. There are plans to further enhance the community driven elements of the site post-launch.
Sowetan’s online users also confirmed that breaking news is the main reason for them visiting the site but they want it to be easier to browse. Sowetan LIVE’s home page, section pages and articles now have more space and are less cluttered so it is easier to read the content. Navigation tabs have also been cleaned up and reduced with information logically grouped under the sections.
Users also want a more exciting look and feel with more visuals. This has resulted in updated colours, font styles and a new logo. The logo and branding has been updated to include the LIVE digital brand extension of the Avusa Media LIVE stable.
“The launch of Sowetan LIVE forms part of Avusa Media LIVE’s strategy to continue to advance and innovate in the digital space. This is why the Sowetan news site is our second site to migrate to the Escenic web content management system, used by other major international publications including The Telegraph, Aftonbladet, The Schibsted group and The Sun. The LIVE digital brands will all incorporate international design standards and bring front-end design up to the user,” points out Lohmann.
Stories on Sowetan LIVE now carry more pictures and rich media is integrated into the articles. As interactivity is key, users are also able to comment on the site and be a part of regular polls on issues of the day.
“Sowetan LIVE is very consumer focused and our consumer advice and information is unique in the online space and incredibly valuable to our readers. Our new Help Line section contains all our consumer advice columns from the paper including Consumer Line, spearheaded by our consumer editor and champion Thuli Zungu, Dear Dudu who offers relationship advice, Mama Angel who carries out good deeds for those in need and Motoring Q&A which focuses on car advice,” says Juliette Saunders, editor of Sowetan LIVE.
The majority of readers on the Sowetan news site are black males between the ages of 25 to 34, who speak English at home and earn a combined personal income per household per month of between R12 000 to R15 999. They are based in Johannesburg, have a university degree, are qualified employees or experts such as teachers and nurses. The majority of the users access the internet at work via ADSL.
To view the new world-class site visit www.sowetanlive.co.za or m.sowetanlive on your cellphone.
