Success Story

Independent.ie apps the driving force for online subscription purchases

The custom built native apps for independent.ie have unlocked an industry leading, highly engaged digital readership who consume more content, visit more frequently and purchase more subscriptions than all other digital platforms across the group.

What we did:

Mobile App Development
Native iOS & Android Apps
Platform Integrations
UX/UI Design

What was the challenge?

Independent.ie approached us seeking a technology partner to assist them with two key objectives:

1.

Design and develop a news app for Independent.ie readers that is fully optimised for mobile reading and delivers a highly engaged audience.

2.

Drive purchases and sign ups, via the app, to the paid for Independent.ie news subscription service, offering readers paid for access to premium content.

The Solution

A reimagined and redesigned collection of native apps were developed and launched, for use across both iOS and Android mobile and tablet devices.

Developed in Swift & Kotlin respectively, the new apps were designed with user experience at their core. The apps provide readers with access to the latest breaking news, as well as local and international news articles across all sectors, including sport, business, lifestyle and entertainment from both the Irish Independent and the Sunday Independent.

Key features include:

Breaking news alerts

Push notifications

Personalised news

Bookmarking for later reading

Text resizing to assist with readability

To drive purchases of news subscriptions, an in app purchase experience was designed and implemented across both apps to enable readers to frictionlessly sign up and subscribe to read additional and premium content directly within the app itself. This purchasing option was deemed essential due to its ease of use, the immediate access it grants and the fact that it remains the most popular method by which people purchase within apps.

To cater for those readers who subscribed outside of the app and to provide a consistent experience across all platforms, a login function was developed within the app itself to allow subscribers to login using their existing web credentials and access their premium content.

The Results

The apps have proved to be a resounding success for Independent.ie.

The apps are delivering the most engaged audience across all Independent.ie digital platforms, with app users visiting more frequently (x5 times more) and reading 50% more articles on every visit, compared to web.

x5

more visits

50%

Company Overview

Independent.ie is the online publication for the Irish Independent, delivering both national and global news across various websites and app platforms. Owned and operated by Independent News & Media (a subsidiary of the international media organisation MediaHuis), the publication is one of many publishing brands within the group, which includes Belfast Telegraph, Sunday Independent, Sunday World, Evening Herald and a range of regional titles.

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