To truly get a sense of the incredible journalistic and monetary success of La Presse+ one must understand the foundation and the scope of the work prior to launch of the new product.
First, the team of La Presse+ set out to exploit fully the potential that the tablet offers and integrate the best features of video, magazines, newspapers and the web, to deliver a news and advertising experience adapted to the new readership habits of consumers 25+.
The company also put money where their thoughts and goals were: $40 million spent over 3.5 years including two years of research prior to launching to optimize reader engagement with news content and advertising.
This was not just a matter of venturing out on mere instinct——although, after talking to the La Presse+ team extensively, I am aware that some of the decisions that led to the current success of the product were based on instinct (don’t charge users, create engagement throughout, create storytelling that did not rely solely on text, go for innovative, engaging advertising).
From the start, this was a three-way process:
—Create engagement to generate growth in the number of engaged users.
—Emphasize reader growth by attracting new users in more attractive (younger) demographics.
-Monetize the operation: Significantly improve digital audience, which would be attractive to advertisers.
The results
Increased time spent reading throughout the week
—which is currently at an average of 40 minutes per day, as opposed to 27 minutes for the print edition at the time of the launch of La Presse+.
--the time spent on the Sunday tablet is 50 minutes, and there was no Sunday print edition at the launch of La Presse+
For the record: When we conducted the Poynter EyeTrack study in 1987, prior to the Internet, the average time spent on a multi-section daily newspaper in the US was approximately 23.3 minutes.
So, it is safe to assert that these tablet readers are spending considerably more time with the content than those readers of the pre-Internet era.
Exceptional growth of digital readers
18 months post launch
-14% of LP+ readers did not consume LP on any platform and 27% did not read the LP newspaper prior to LP+.
-400,000 weekly and 505,000 monthly readers.
Average new daily downloads of La Presse+ in 2015: 750 (at no incremental production cost).
When are they reading the La Presse+
According to the team, the tablet edition has become a new ritual with 66% of the readers reading in the morning, 8% both morning and evening and 26% in the evening.
This is fascinating, since when the tablet first appeared in 2010 we got the sense that it was an evening use platform.
An attractive demographic profile for advertisers
The 25-54 adults segment represents 63% of the La Presse+ audience.
In terms of household income, 43% of the La Presse+ audience makes $100K or more per year (Canadian dollars).
Monetization
La Presse+ accounts for 68% of La Presse’s total advertising revenue.
• Including web site ad revenue, 82% of La Presse’s advertising revenue is now digital.
• Operating Profit is $3 M higher than when we launched La Presse+.
Previously in the La Presse+ series
La Presse+: A Tablet Edition Success Story in Montreal.
http://garciamedia.com/blog/la_presse_a_tablet_edition_success_story_in_montreal
La Presse+: A Success story, part 2—the concept and the technology
http://garciamedia.com/blog/la_presse_a_success_story_part_2the_concept_and_the_technology
La Presse+: A Success story, part 3—the advertising
http://garciamedia.com/blog/la_presse_a_success_story_part_3_the_advertising
La Presse+: A Success story, part 4—the design details
http://garciamedia.com/blog/la_presse_a_success_story_part_4_the_design_details
For related content
La Presse+ tablet edition gets a 30% rise in readership since axing weekday print edition
http://blog.wan-ifra.org/2016/05/27/la-presse-tablet-edition-gets-a-30-rise-in-readership-since-axing-weekday-print-edition
In Argentina: La Voz switches from broadsheet to Berliner format
I am in Cordoba, Argentina, as we launch the new look and format of this regional newspaper, La Voz, in Cordoba, the second largest city in Argentina.
A full case study will appear in the blog Friday of this week.
Here is my interview on La Voz TV discussing the redesign (in Spanish)
http://www.lavoz.com.ar/…/mario-garcia-un-trotamundos-y-men…