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WAN-IFRA XMA Cross Media Awards 2011 |
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Company: Verdens Gang AS |
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Project name: VG+ |
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General information about the publication |
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Verdens Gang AS media house publishes Norway's largest newspaper, VG, Norway's largest website, www.vg.no and Norway's largest mobile website, www.touch.vg.no.
VG aims to be the leading contributor of news, to entertain and to be useful. VG’s core values are to be courageous, open and people-minded. With these values VG sets the agenda for both the public and the official news in Norway. With skilful journalists, sharp headlines and good use of pictures, VG gets through to the people. Since its foundation in 1945, VG has grown to be the most read newspaper in Norway on all platforms; paper, web, cell phone and iPad. Today VG's channels reach more than 50 per cent of Norway's population over the age of 12 daily. VG plans to continue to grow its digital services and to stop the decline of the print edition of the newspaper. |
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Entry description |
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VG+ is VGs first news app for the iPad.
VG +, VG print edition adapted to iPad.
This is an edited product with a start and an end. We give you exactly what you need: the best from the print edition, but with many additional images and videos in an interactive format. VG + delivers a quiet, comfortable reading experience.
An updated version of the printed newspaper
As a subscriber to VG + you get a daily version of VG that is constantly being updated with articles throughout the day. You will get notified about important news and new articles as you read VG +. And you can choose to receive push messages about the biggest news stories - immediately.
Experience the news
VG + is a contemporary and visual newspaper which is emphasized through the use of images and video. Enjoy the daily slideshows, galleries and full screen videos., with VG + you see and hear the news as much as you read them.
Download. Share with friends
You can download VG + for offline reading and it's easy to share your favorite articles with friends through facebook, twitter and mail. You can also use Instapaper or Read It Later to save your favorite articles for later use.
The name VG+ is strongly related to the main VG brand but the + indicates that we give the readers something more. A better and different user experience together with extra content.
The font resembles the traditional VG logo, but is a bit more modern – attracting new user segments. |
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The basic idea of your application project |
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What is the basic idea of your application?
To develop VGs first news app for the iPad. The app primarily delivers the same content available in the printed edition of the newspaper, content which traditionally was not available through VGs website.
The aim of the VG+ app is to strengthen VG’s position as a media house on new platforms and generate revenue growth through user subscriptions and attract new user segments.
What was the purpose of implementing this?
It is important for VG to be innovative and deliver content on all new platforms. VGs goal is to be the number Norwegian media house across all channels. When the iPad was launched in Norway is was important to have a news App available for users of this new platform.
It is also important to stop the fall in readership numbers of the print edition of the VG newspaper and to find new business models for paid content.
Which audience segments did/do you want to target?
VG+ targets a user segment which is important for VG to be present in and which we haven’t been able to attract earlier. The user group is well educated, have a stable economy, are innovators, are between 25 and 45 years old and consist of both men and women.
Do you intend to attract new customer segments or is it more a tool to retain existing customers?
VG+ primarily targets a new target segment that VG hasn’t been able to attract earlier.
Secondly we want to target existing consumers primarily those that read the VG print edition so that we don’t loose readers and income. |
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Used media channels |
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iPad |
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The implementation |
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Since when do you implement your application?
VG + was first launched in December 2010 as a free trial version.
At the end of June 2011 we launched a paid version. The users can now subscribe to VG + on a weekly, monthly or yearly basis. The subscription price for a week is 29 NOK, 59 NOK for a month and 599 NOK per year.
Which department(s) is the driver of setting it up?
VG+ have been developed by VG Mobile, which is a company owned by VG. The development of the application was a collaboration with Agens AS.
Journalism/editing
VG+ has its own desk of editors. We place great emphasis on the visual presentation of the material - that means that good pictures and videos are the starting point for the journalists. We do this consistently with the content we produce ourselves, while the editorial content from the print and online edition is adapted to suit the iPad format. ????
We work by two principles:
1) Reducing text content. This depends on the shape and character of the story. It is therefore important that the still images and video can represent the story by itself.
2) We also work with a narrative technique where videos and vibrant graphics only serve as support elements - that is, short clips that complement the story.
This allows us to distinguish articles delivered on the iPad from articles delivered in the print and online editions.
How do you use and connect the different media channels?
VG+ mainly consist of content from the printed paid edition, which is not published on vg.no – which is a free online service. Is has therefore been important to communicate that this is content that you don’t find for free on vg.no. On the tablet version of vg.no (tablet.vg.no) we show teasers of the content available from the daily edition of VG+, if the user wants to read these articles they will have to subscribe.
It has also been important to use social media to market VG+ and to attract new users, the VG+ desk uses social marketing channels daily to promote stories. App users are also able to share articles with friends through a html version of the article viewable on computers and mobile devices. So a subscriber of the app can share content with non subscribers by sending a url to a html version of the same content available in the app.
We have also been marketing VG+ through all our channels, the VG print edition, vg.no, touch.vg.no, vgtv and tablet.vg.no.
Is it consistent across all channels?
VG+ are at the present just available for the iPad, but we are looking at the option of making it to a subscription service on other channels as mobile phones. |
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Image(s) |
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Links |
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http://itunes.apple.com/no/app/vg/id405708242?mt=8
http://tablet.vg.no/vgpluss/info/
http://vginfo.vg.no/slik-lages-vg/vg/
http://www.vgtv.no/#!id=34478
http://www.vgtv.no/#!id=34752
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Results of the application implementation |
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Over 80,000 people downloaded the free trial edition and 28,000 use it weekly. VG+ is now a paid subscription app so the figures are now significantly lower than when the content was free to access.
We have been prepared for a drop of nine out of every ten app users after introducing the subscription service. The subscription service has only been available for four days and the numbers are far higher than our forecasts. We already have a four-digit number of subscribers which is promising.
VG+ also generates revenue though advertisements placed within the application. We have encouraged our advertisers to make interactive ads taking advantage of functionality only available on an interactive device pushing the innovation in new ad formats. For example adds that have taken advantage of the inbuilt accelerometer in the application.
VG+ as a free App was nr 1 in the App Store Topplist for a long time, strengthening VGs brand appearance on new platforms.
This has been an important first step in starting to get paid for digital content and explore new platforms.
VG+ free edition was Norways most read newspaper app – a number 1 position. |
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