24.com restructures to fall within Media24 Newspapers

The restructure, with immediate effect, consists of:

• 24.com, falling under the Media24 Newspapers' umbrella. This division will report to Cohen, who has been appointed GM.
  
• The Careers24 unit, under Tim Gregory, will be incorporated under MIH Internet Africa. This aligns Careers24 with the other MIH listing businesses.
  
• The 24Games unit, under Brendan McNulty, will move to DStv Online. This allows it to leverage DStv's audience to build its gaming community, as well as work more closely with the Multichoice Group companies to implement their gaming strategy.

This strategic repositioning is meant to allow the business to take further advantage of the shifts in digital media consumption, brought about by the rise of mobile and tablet devices.

"Sparked a rethink"

"The tablet device trend, specifically, has broad implications for the digital publishing business and has sparked a rethink of how we get our brands digitally enabled. In order for us to optimise these opportunities, a decision has been made to reposition 24.com into a very focused online publishing business that can work more closely with the group's print publishing divisions," explained Farinha.

"The incorporation into Media24's publishing assets will be an ideal fit, given 24.com's strength in technology, content and community and places it in an ideal position to absorb the fast-paced changes and significant growth in the digital media market," Farinha added.

"We are seeing a significant growth in the usage of all the News24 Channels - particularly on mobile devices where audience growth has almost tripled in the last 12 months - as well as growing investments in digital advertising. A closer relationship with the Media24 print titles places us at the forefront of the development of great content and advertising offerings on tablets, mobile devices and the web," said Cohen.

Centred on News24.com, 24.com has previously been a network of popular digital publishing brands and online services which includes The SpaceStation and various services for user-generated content, such as MyNews24 and Letterdash, as well as networking tools such as Blueworld and Answerit. It is a member of the Digital Media & Marketing Association (DMMA), formerly the OPA.