News

Newsweek Europe repackages for future

At a breakfast at its London headquarters Editor-in-Chief Richard Addis unveiled a strategy to grow the European audience through investments in redesign and a focus on quality and longform reporting.

by WAN-IFRA Staff executivenews@wan-ifra.org | April 9, 2015

A year after Newsweek launched its European edition it has committed to the future of its print version and taken steps to enhance its online presence.

The old-look Newsweek, available mainly at airports, poured European content into its American vessel but Editor-in-Chief Richard Addis wanted a more European magazine with content of a variety of pace and depth. The result is redesigned print product with new sections, ‘Business’ and ‘Weekend’, and a middle core dedicated to longform articles of around 10,000 words, such as this week cover story on Tony Blair.
Alongside the print version, it is to relaunch its website and new iPhone and iPad apps.

“The primary differentiator for Newsweek Europe is the journalism. The pressure on media has been really tough on reporting and many publications have reverted to doing things from behind the desk. I’m pinning my hopes on real on-the-ground reporting”, Addis said. “Nothing in Newsweek Europe in print or online should be a story you have ever read before. That’s what makes our readers the most interesting people at the table.”

“There is a gap for Newsweek in Europe. Longform is in our blood.”

The paper is focusing on a new range of features, including in-depth once a month interview by Nicholas Shakespeare with some of the world’s most important thinkers.
Shakespeare will take them on a long walk, talking about the meaning of life.

The revamped Newsweek Europe includes a high-profile board of campaigning brand celebrities such as philosopher and writer Alain de Botton; comedian and mental health advocate Ruby Wax; Comic Relief founder and race relations campaigner Lenny Henry. Their role will be to help publicise the magazine’s investigative journalism.

Newsweek Europe print edition has a weekly circulation of 70,000, distributed in over 40 countries; its website has 1.2 million unique users every month. It is sold mainly at airports to top business executives.

Although today’s revamped magazine is a commitment to print, Addis acknowledges that the advertising revenue from the print edition is being used to invest and grow online, which has to be the future. Having already had success in producing long-form articles as e-books, Newsweek is now also investigating micropayments for single articles.

Reflecting on the future of journalism Addis said “Life is getting more complicated: there’s more knowledge and more data… as a result of globalisation everything is scattered. Explanatory journalism will help us navigate the future”.

He foresees a massive “parting of ways, with on the one hand growth in niche titles and individual bloggers and on the other hand massive trustworthy brands”.

 

Share via
Copy link