At the World Publishing Expo of WAN IFRA in Berlin, Karel Verhoeven, Editor-in-chief of De Standaard, looked back at the key results of the launch of dS Avond. The topic of his presentation was: “How to create a compelling digital-only evening edition?”.
De Standaard is the main Belgian broadsheet newspaper. It has a consistent track record of growth in a declining market over the past 10 years. In order to sustain its leadership position, De Standaard has launched in April 2013 dS Avond, a digital-only evening edition. dS Avond appears daily at 5 pm. It brings the news of the day, in an easy-to-consume and very visual format. dS Avond is built on the NextGen Digital Publishing Suite of Twipe.
The evening edition picks up where the morning newspaper stops. A dedicated team of editors is responsible for their own journalistic approach. All articles and news stories are exclusively written for dS Avond and are not drawn out or summarised on the site or in the newspaper. dS Avond is made for readers who after a busy day want to relax while swiping through a fresh look on the news of the day.
Key business results 6 months after the launch
- 35,000 apps downloaded
- 18,000 new trial subscriptions
- Daily downloads between 11,000 and 15,000
- 60% readers on tablet, 40% on web
- Core readership of 32,000
New insights about reader behaviour
- People read dS Avond on average for a period of 17.5 minutes
- For about half of the readers, dS Avond has become a fixed reading habit
- The evening edition is not a substitute for the morning newspaper; it is perceived to be a strong addition
- The main reasons why people are reading dS Avond: it gives a summary of the main news of the day and its format is light and entertaining
