We're 70% there and poised to grow, says iMaverick's Branko BrkicIt's early days for the pathfinding iMaverick, the country's first-ever iPad-only daily newspaper launched by Daily Maverick founder Branko Brkic in October 2011 (though a pdf version was launched in August). Branko Brkic After a soft launch, all the media luvvies have been asking how it's doing and, although they're still mum on the subscription numbers (you get a free iPad with your subscription), Maverick CEO Styli Charalambous told Bizcommunity that he's working on a couple of corporate deals that could up these figures in a big way - he hopes to announce them early next year. In the meantime, maverick editor Brkic tells Biz what he and his team have learned in the past few months, what's to come and why he takes criticism that iMaverick might be too long as a compliment. So are you still refining the app? We've learned a lot and we're learning still and I don't think we're going to stop learning. So we're still not there but we're going in the right direction. What is the key thing you guys have learned? You've got to have people who can [do] three or four jobs at the same time. So you've got people who write stories but immediately they're aware of what the story's going to look like, where it's going to be and what's it going to be. And it's the same with the sub-editors and the designers - the same thing with me. You can't afford to have different layers of management. You just have to do so many different things at the same time. Hectic! Aren't you guys exhausted? Well, just getting out a daily newspaper is an incredible feat. The average daily newspaper contains 30 000 words written by the journalists, which is the same length as the average novel - but this is being done every single day. It's a finely tuned production system that for most papers has been developed over decades. You guys are new to this and have far less staff than most daily newspaper, so what you're doing is really amazing. For sure. How many editorial people have you got? That's quite small. Now you say you're about 70% where you want to be with iMaverick, so what are you still wanting to work on - more content or the refining the presentation? There are things we want to do that we don't do at the moment. We don't do humour. We want to do quite a bit more of direct reportage - you know, people going into communities and talking to people and writing about them. At the moment we can't afford to do it - we just don't have enough people - and that's something we want to invest a significant amount of money in. How do you present the world and South Africa today if you don't go into the streets and talk to people? This is what [Daily Maverick deputy editor] Phillip de Wet's been doing with covering service delivery marches. He's doing great stuff - I thinks it's a real USP for you guys.* Do you ever think of doing less of the international stuff and more local stuff, which is what you guys are best at - and I mean the kind of stuff Phillip is doing? Some of our stories have been republished [internationally]. When Steve Jobs died, I found out at 2am and by 6am we had the story on Daily Maverick and iMaverick written by Richard Poplak. And the next day in [the US-based] Christian Science Monitor, they quoted that story as the top story on Steve Jobs... And what kind of feedback are you getting from readers and users? OK. Mine was very couched though as I said it wasn't really fair to judge iMaverick by the [earlier] pdf version [before the iPad app was ready]. Yep. Definitely not more in a daily newspaper. OK, I'm with you and the difference with the tablet [compared to the early pdf version] is that there is a drop-down menu and you hop around - whereas you couldn't do that with the pdf. And are we going to see more interactivity with iMaverick - more use of the technology? Some people have wondered if iMaverick is too ambitious. Mmm, I dig it. My problem is we share an iPad at home. I think I'll like it even more when I have my own iPad. iMaverick is better than any of three daily newspapers that have been coming over my wall every day. But is iMaverick different enough from what's going out for free on the [online] Daily Maverick? [The most recent stats for Daily Maverick show that it is getting around 140 000 unique visitors per month and time spent on site is 3:52.] OK, nice. What are you most pleased with, Branko? I think iMaverick really feels great once you have it in your hands and you browse it. It feels really substantial. It's not an easy thing to create something out of nothing. To go from zero to one is terrible exciting. iMaverick didn't exist a couple of months ago. Now it exists and people like it and enjoy it. For me that's terribly exciting, you know; it's proof that we're alive. For more:
*On Wednesday morning, 7 December 2011, it was announced that Phillip de Wet, co-founder of the Daily Maverick and iMaverick, has parted ways with the company in order to take a well-deserved break. He will probably still do freelance or project work for the two titles in the New Year. Updated at 10.27am on 7 December 2011. About Gill Moodie: @grubstreetSAGill Moodie (@grubstreetSA) is a freelance journalist, media commentator and the publisher of Grubstreet (www.grubstreet.co.za). She worked in the print industry in South Africa for titles such as the Sunday Times and Business Day, and in the UK for Guinness Publishing, before striking out on her own. Email Gill at gill@grubstreet.co.za and follow her on Twitter at @grubstreetSA.
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