News

The Week UK sees 88% increase in sessions per user after adding daily digital editions to their app

Both The Week UK & US have seen a huge uplift in app engagement since introducing daily digital editions in their app.

9th September 2024

Weekly news brand, The Week, has seen a huge uplift in app engagement across both UK and US titles since introducing daily digital editions in their app alongside the established weekly magazine.

Since launching back in January, daily editions have led to an 88% increase in sessions per user in the UK and a 146% rise in the US app, creating a daily consumption habit amongst The Week readers.

This impressive increase in users returning to the app was driven by two key factors – delivering more of the sort of content that subscribers wanted to read, alongside the power of a solid push notification strategy.

And while The Week team expected to see a drop in average session length due to the daily editions being shorter than the magazine, it simply wasn’t the case. In fact, the average session duration actually increased by 79% in the UK and only slightly dropped by 9% in the US.

This suggests that users are forming new habits, leaving the app running in the background and coming back later and seeing the app more as an ‘always on’ app.

A boost for past weekly editions too

Not only has the new daily content format increased session duration and frequency, but, perhaps surprisingly, it also led to higher engagement with the weekly digital edition too.

In fact, demand for the weekly magazine edition more than doubled in both the UK and US apps since the daily edition launch, suggesting that a higher frequency of new material during the week is encouraging users to revisit the magazine section while they have the app open.

And it’s not just the most recent weekly editions that have been getting more love from users – there was a significant rise in sessions that included viewing editions over a week old.

The results of these new content formats speak for themselves. The Week wanted to reach a new audience that was looking for more than just the magazine. And by introducing a different element to their content offering, they’re now reaping the benefits.

Holden Frith, Global Digital Director of The Week said:

“The new daily digital editions have been a success with new readers and loyal subscribers alike. From day one, existing readers started opening the app more often, and since then we’ve seen a big rise in the proportion of new customers adding digital access to their subscriptions.”

So what can we take from this? Experimenting with new content formats might surprise you – especially if you’re trying to tap into a younger audience.

Moreover, The Week’s efforts demonstrate the importance for magazine publishers to create regular reader habits. Research that we highlighted in our weekly newsletter, The Media Bulletin, showed that habit, frequency and regularity drive subscription growth and retention.

For magazine publishers, The Week’s daily edition strategy shows how the effort was worth the impact.