Newsweek and International Business Times UK launch online redesign and improved video offering
IBT Media has redesigned the websites of Newsweek and International Business Times across EMEA, as part of the global rebrand which launched in the US last month.
The new design framework focuses on speed, legibility and user experience, and works to champion the website’s premium content.
Features of the redesign include larger headlines and image sizes, with stories that are easier to read and most importantly - faster to download. The homepage highlights more articles, features the magazine’s cover image each week and includes more room for integrated sponsorships. To facilitate a better experience for readers that are constantly scrolling, the site includes sticky navigation bars and social sharing.
Matt McAllester, editor of Newsweek Europe, said the "clear, clean look of the redesign" benefits readers and advertisers alike, with better integration of advertising and new storytelling tools looking to improve the user experience online.
This redesign and functionality is also evident in the UK edition of the International Business Times website which also launched today, in which article pages will include a longer “magazine” format for feature stories as well as a cleaner and simpler look for breaking news. The idea is to make it easier for readers to share stories on social media platforms with easier navigation and pages optimised for cross-platform.
“These upgraded digital properties are an important move for IBT Media as it continues to grow its global readership,” said Jeremy Makin, VP of Sales for IBT Media EMEA.
Makin says the redesigns place ad effectiveness on a par with audience experience: "We have ensured that the advertising blends harmoniously with the content and is both impactful, engaging and viewable.
"We will continue to further develop our mix of solutions for advertisers, whether it be programmatic and direct, display or native content."
These upgraded digital properties represent an important move by IBT Media as it sets out to grow its readership across EMEA.
Last year IBT signed a partnership agreement with analytics platform MOAT, to track and boost its advertising viewability. MOAT helped IBT incorporate its new “sticky ads” technology into its redesigns.
Video will become an integral part of the website’s editorial and commercial offering in conjunction with the growing shift to video in 2016, with plans to increase the video output and launch mobile video on the IBT website. It will produce both breaking news videos and in-house exclusive packages.
IBT are also planning improvements to its partnership with Google's AMP initiative, which helps publishers optimise their mobile content, since mobile accounts for nearly half of the news website's global traffic.