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- SA's leading digital news wesite has refreshed its sections and content offering for its growing readership and subscribers.
- News24 Business, News24 Sport and News24 Life have been introduced as the publication's new and improved content verticals.
- The changes, which take effect from Wednesday, 14 September, form part of a broader News24 brand revamp.
News24, South Africa's biggest digital news brand, has relaunched its content verticals, including Fin24, Sport24, Wheels24, Channel24 and W24, with a renewed feel and focus under the publication's refreshed website.
Each of the brands has been redefined as part of a broader revamp affecting News24's home page and content offering.
When will the changes be introduced?
The changes take effect from Wednesday, 14 September 2022, just over two years since the launch of News24's subscription service in August 2020.
What are the big brand changes?
The verticals have been renamed and carry new logo designs aimed at further aligning them with the News24 hero brand, the most trusted news publisher in the country, according to the Reuters Institute.
Solidifying News24 as the overarching title, Fin24 becomes News24 Business, and Sport24 becomes News24 Sport, while Channel24, Health24, Parent24, W24, Ride24, Arts24, and Wheels24 merge into News24 Life.
In addition to the name changes, News24 readers will also enjoy revamped site functions. The sections will no longer exist as standalone brands. Instead, they will now merge with News24's main home page.
What can readers expect from the new sections?
The home page will feature a rearranged navigation menu with the popular politics and investigations sections higher up in the hierarchy.
Meanwhile, the refreshed business and sport sections will still appear prominently alongside a new section focusing on the climate future.
LIFESTYLE:
News24's lifestyle pillars will no longer be external brands standing on their own. Instead, Channel24, Health24, Parent24, W24, Ride24, Arts24, and Wheels24 will move into the leading brand as specialised sections focusing on producing quality lifestyle content for News24.
News24 Life will focus on three critical areas of living a balanced life - culture, wellness, and escapism.
"The News24 Life team will combine their expertise to deliver quality articles that add value to the lives of our readers. It made sense to bring all the individual brands together under the News24 umbrella to strengthen our offering," Herman Eloff said.
News24 Life, headed by Eloff, will cover topics like the arts, entertainment, books, relationships, wellness, motoring, cycling, food, and wine. Media24's beloved magazine brands like YOU, go!, and Home will continue unchanged and will also form part of the lifestyle content offering under News24 Life.
BUSINESS:
At the same time, News24 Business will continue to provide up-to-date business and finance news, stock market data, economic analysis, personal finance, and investment information to its money savvy readers.
According to business editor Helena Wasserman, readers could expect the same top-tier financial journalism, views, and analysis from the world of money, with a growing focus on the country's top corporations.
"In coming months, News24 Business will strengthen its company coverage to help our readers make sense and profit from critical developments in corporate South Africa,” Wasserman added.
"Companies are facing key challenges, along with opportunities, and our readers can look forward to enhanced coverage of this landscape in future."
Why has News24 rolled out these changes?
Two years after launching its subscription service, News24's growing subscriber base has given the publication the opportunity to broaden the breadth of its news offering in a carefully considered manner.
Earlier this year, News24 tweaked its slogan to "Trusted News. First", reiterating its commitment to producing a consistent stream of in-depth, quality journalism in a fast news landscape.
The latest leg of the brand refresh was an extension of that commitment, explained News24 editor-in-chief Adriaan Basson.
"It's another piece of the puzzle," he said. "It was important to roll out the refresh incrementally so that News24 readers could continue enjoying the product and not be overwhelmed by wholesale changes.
"In the last few years, we have steadily introduced new team members and work streams into our newsroom structure with the aim of improving the quality of our journalism, and this has certainly paid off for us."
Readers are assured News24's refresh will only strengthen the publication's ability to produce trusted and agenda-setting news, across the various sections.
Said Basson: "We are bringing all our popular and important content verticals under the most trusted news brand in South Africa, News24. We are also very excited about the introduction of a dedicated climate future stream."
With roughly 1.3 million unique browsers interacting with News24's website on a daily basis, the news publisher promises to keep bringing its readers and subscribers factual, premium journalism that keeps power to account and drives conversations.
"In a climate of declining media trust, News24 has managed to convert over 60 000 readers to paying subscribers. Trust is the golden metric. Thanks to our subscription service, we can keep adding value to the reader experience across all verticals," he added.
