3XE Digital Proudly presents: Ben Whitelaw, Head of Community and Digital Development at The Times & The Sunday Times People thought The Times was mad when it eschewed breaking news and move to an ‘edition publishing model’ during the redesign of its website and smartphone last year. But the decision is paying off with a 30% increase in users and more pages consumed per visit than a year ago. Ben will talk about how it came about, why it’s been good for readers and what was learnt along the way. **presentation is NOT for commercial use** For more info visit: www.3xedigital.com

1. Creating scarcity and
habit in a world of
abundance and chaos
Ben Whitelaw
Head of Audience Development

2. - Launched in April 2016
- First redesign since charging
for content
- One website, two newsrooms
- New publishing model across
both titles

4. “We get little that is ‘news’ as it is and hardly any in
depth coverage of it. You have to nigh on reading (sic)
all the newspapers and hear all the news even to get a
glimpse of what is going on. If you put all your eggs in
one basket, the idea that things will improve is not
only unlikely but non-existent”
Gerald Blezard, Times reader

5. 9am
12pm
5pm
10pm

6. People pay for quality

7. Our challenge
To create a digital news product
that our readers would pay for in
a market full of free content

9. “a curated, finite edition that will keep them fully
informed in minimum time, with maximum flair”
Alan Hunter, Head of Digital

10. Start with the data

11. People hate change

12. Back your idea

13. up 110%
articles
per visit
up 30%
usage of
app

14. “Massive improvement over the
old app. Clean design, updates
during the day. Has all the
content from the paper version.
Jaym, four star iPhone review
“This app and subscription retain the
tradition, character and standard of the
Times newspapers themselves …. it's an
easy-to-use digital version of a great
newspaper. I'm very happy with it and
am glad I subscribed!”
Andrew Bryant, five star Android review
Move by @thetimes to skip
'breaking news' is good. Always
so much misinformation early on
anyway, smart idea
Joannavos
“I think the upgrade is brave, and is
a very different approach. There are
plenty of websites that offer just
another database for news and
comment.
Martin Bird, commenter

15. Thanks for listening
Ben Whitelaw
@benwhitelaw