Situation
Daily Maverick is a trailblazing online news publication with a reputation for investigative journalism. Its audience grew significantly after it began publishing the Gupta Leaks in 2017, a series of investigations that revealed the extent to which the wealthy Gupta family influenced the then Zuma government. With a mission to shore up democracy in South Africa, Daily Maverick now seeks to grow this audience further, in order to reach its North Star goal of 500,000 registered users by the end of 2022.
Engagement
During the 3-month engagement Google News Initiative and FT Strategies we:
- Conducted deep analysis on the publisher’s audience data with emphasis on newsletters
- Facilitated expert workshops on data best practice
- Created and launched a reader survey to better understand their audience’s motivation to read and donate
- Provided audience insights for each newsletter in the publisher’s offering
Results
After conducting a reader survey and newsletter analysis, Daily Maverick found there was an opportunity to improve messaging on its website to drive registration, rather than incentivising only the middle of its customer funnel via newsletters. As a result, following the programme, it increased acquisitions from the website to 25 per cent.
The team learnt how to better conduct surveys and analyse data to create effective change. With the knowledge that 59 per cent of readers approach it as a key source of news, Daily Maverick has identified a clear opportunity to maximise the delivery of breaking news and investigations.
“The team were fantastic in helping define the problem we were aiming to solve. As a lean team, we would not have had the capacity or in-house skill set to have executed the work to this standard. The data that came out of this project will help us in many avenues of the business”
Kathryn Kotze Operations Manager, Daily Maverick
