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Johnston Press I Sky

Johnston Press unveils i news website as it adopts 'less is more' ad ethos

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By Rebecca Stewart, Trends Editor

April 14, 2016 | 3 min read

Johnston Press has launched a dedicated i website to complement the i newspaper following the official deal completion of the title’s acquisition on Sunday.

The publisher, which bought the paper for £24m from its existing owner Evgeny Lebedev back in February, says inews.co.uk will "act as an extension of the layout and culture of i as a print product; concise in nature and a quality round up of what readers need to know right now across Britain."

The new site is adopting a ‘less is more’ advertising ethos, with the media owner saying it will partner with fewer brands to allow content to "carry more impact for its audience", with cleaner all-round landing pages that move away from the high number of advertising units across news sites.

Sky has been revealed as the website’s launch partner, running ads and native content on the platform. The partnership will run for an initial period of one month, during which time Johnston Press says it wants to focus on developing fresh native advertising concepts.

“We at Johnston Press want to create an innovative new product in the market through inews.co.uk, so Sky is the natural launch partner for us in this respect with a real expertise in creating formats and content that appeal to a variety of audiences," said Liam Reynolds, managing director of national sales at Johnston Press.

"In the words of Oly Duff, our editor at i, ‘expect serious news, mischief and compelling stories’," he added.

The website launch follows the appointment of BBC Newsbeat's Felicity Morse as digital news editor. The majority of staff have been carried over from the i and the Independent, where it is estimated around 100 out of 160 journalists lost their jobs following i's sale and ESI Media's closure of the Independent's print edition.

The first issue of i under the new ownership was printed on Monday (11 April), with Ashley Highfield, chief executive of Johnston Press, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that readers would find "no difference" with regards to content between the old and new editions.

Johnston Press I Sky

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