Avusa rolls out new digital strategy, division

Elan Lohmann, Avusa Media LIVE GM, believes the new division will distribute attention more evenly across the different Avusa brands. To date, the focus has always rested on www.timeslive.co.za.

Innovation driven from within

Lohmann also announced that the Avusa iLab has been abandoned as its brief was not to focus on the core products. The iLab was formed in 2008 to drive innovation in online and mobile applications for the Avusa group. Instead, innovation will be driven via the new product function within the products themselves.

Lohmann believes the South African online market is shifting towards black households, which is where he says Avusa's core strength lies. The Sowetan LIVE version of www.sowetan.co.za is tentatively scheduled to launch mid-May. Lohmann describes it as a sleeping lion - the site already has 365 000 domestic users monthly and it is growing rapidly.

The Times LIVE site, on which so much attention has been lavished since its launch, has 529 000 domestic users a month by comparison. Lohmann promises that the Sowetan LIVE site will be even more exciting than that of Times LIVE as the group makes full use of a newly upgraded content management system (the EScenic web publishing platform) which allows for greater web 2.0 and citizen journalism functionality.

According to Lohmann, citizen journalism is increasingly important for online newspaper brands as it builds engagement with readers and adds an extra dimension to the user experience. The wedding blog on the Sowetan (http://blogs.sowetan.co.za/weddings/), for example, allows readers to upload their wedding pictures onto the site - it is already one of the most popular features on that site and a perfect example of serving the local community with localised content.

Also on the agenda

www.sundayworld.co.za is also on the agenda and already has 100 000 unique monthly users, even though very little actually happens on the site itself at this stage.

Times LIVE will also benefit under the new division and is due to receive a facelift in the near future. Lohmann believes that when the site launched, Avusa got 60% of it right but now it's time for further functionality to be added.

www.theherald.co.za and www.dispatch.co.za are reportedly due to be implementing pay walls around their content at some stage this year. Lohmann declined to divulge details at this stage, as a reader communication campaign has yet to be launched. He did say that "in areas where local content providers dominate their market and the advertising model doesn't work, it makes sense to charge for subscriptions."

He added that general news properties such as that of Times LIVE or the Sowetan will not be affected by pay walls, although areas of value, such the Sunday Times within the Times LIVE site, might fall behind pay walls at some stage. Content properties will investigate offering premium packages or services for which readers might be charged.

Electronic editions

Electronic editions, which will be eligible to be counted towards circulation ABCs, are also on the agenda, Lohmann acknowledges.

Avusa Media LIVE has strengthened the digital team with the appointment of Justin McCall (formerly web marketing manager at www.PrivateProperty.co.za) as product manager, Marcus Stephens as commercial manager and Reuben Goldberg as the news editor for Times LIVE.

Lohmann believes that Avusa hasn't been a serious player in the digital publishing field until quite recently. His aims are to monetise the online properties his division manages and to build a profitable business within the next three to five years. It's no longer economically viable for digital media to be subsidised by print, says Lohmann. It's time it stood on its own two feet.

*The Avusa Media LIVE press office on Bizcommunity.com went live on Tuesday 13 April.

Updated 21 April 2010 at 5.52pm