News

AJC News app, powered by Pugpig, wins Best New Digital Product and Best in North America at INMA Global Media Awards 2025

Pugpig publisher, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC), has won Best New Digital Product and overall Best in North America at the INMA Global Media Awards 2025.

28th May 2025

Pugpig CEO, Jonny Kaldor, collecting the award on behalf of the AJC team

Many congratulations to Pugpig publisher, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC), on being named winner of both Best New Digital Product and overall Best in North America awards at this year’s INMA Global Media Awards.

These prestigious accolades are a huge testament to AJC’s bold vision to transform a 155-year-old newspaper into a modern, digital-first media powerhouse. And the AJC News app, built on Pugpig Bolt, playing such a central role in that journey.

A reinvention rooted in engagement and innovation

Launched in January 2024, the AJC News app has become the beating heart of AJC’s digital strategy. With a clear ambition to reach 500,000 subscribers by 2026, the team set out to create an app experience that was not just functional, but essential. And they delivered.

The app is packed with engaging features that put the user first:

Award-winning audio and podcasts, tailored to the topics that resonate most with the people of Atlanta.
Text-to-speech across all articles, making content more accessible and increasing time spent in-app.
A sleek onboarding flow, reducing friction and converting new users into loyal ones.
Granular topic navigation and personalised push notifications, ensuring every user gets content that truly matters to them.

Results that speak volumes

Since launch, the app has exceeded expectations across every major KPI:

+147% growth in total engagement time
+201% increase in in-app subscribers
+69% growth in monthly active users
33% of users regularly engage with push notifications
+232% increase in unique audio listeners

The app also saw a 512% spike in downloads during the AJC Peachtree Road Race campaign, thanks to clever use of QR codes and deep linking around a high-profile local event.

Built on Pugpig Bolt

It’s great to see AJC’s incredible product, editorial, and marketing teams using our technology to its fullest – creating a premium, deeply local, and highly engaging mobile experience that’s already having a real impact on reader loyalty and revenue.

This win is hugely deserved, and while the results from 2024 have been fantastic, it’s clear that AJC is just getting started. With exciting plans to deepen product integration, expand niche offerings, and continue growing subscriptions, we can’t wait to see what’s next.

A huge congratulations again to the entire AJC team from all of us at Pugpig!