Archant, the UK's largest independently-owned regional media business, has appointed YOC to create mobile sites for three of its key titles, the Norwich Evening News, Ilford Recorder and Norwich City FC fanzine, The PinkUn.
YOC is developing bespoke mobile sites for Archant and helping the publisher to develop its digital strategy by embracing the mobile channel and offering its readers access to the regional papers content from any mobile phone. The mobile sites will enable Archant to extend their reach to a new mobile audience and create new revenue streams amongst local advertisers.
This is Archants first move into the world of mobile, taking the successful business model deployed at a national level and focusing on local businesses and advertisers to unlock a new regional mobile advertising market.
In the two weeks since he sites went live, Suffolk brewery Adnams has sponsored the entire m.pinkun.com site and regional department stores such as Palmers in Great Yarmouth, have launched exclusive money-off vouchers for Archants mobile users.
With YOC, Archant are now leading the way in harnessing the power of mobile for local audiences both readers and advertisers, says Tim Youngman, Head of Digital Marketing at Archant. Our mobile sites have already struck a chord with local businesses and brands seeking return on their advertising investment, and were already looking to roll out this mobile strategy with YOC across other titles in our portfolio.
YOC says that the partnership also opens up a new market for itself among small and medium sized business, using its relationship with Archant to help a broader range of companies to understand the potential of mobile.
The personal, interactive nature of mobile makes it an ideal channel for publishers to connect with their readers, says YOC Managing Director, Oli Roxburgh. Were relishing the opportunity to work with Archant to build a commercially viable mobile business for regional publishing from day one, by engaging and partnering with local businesses. Our heritage in both designing and building mobile sites and managing ad inventory mean that we are ideally placed to make this a success for Archant.
To access the Archant mobile sites, visit m.eveningnews24.co.uk, m.ilfordrecorder.co.uk and m.pinkun.com