Postmedia has launched a new content app, which, according to the company, offers subscribers a more integrated, streamlined and personalized experience.

“The app that preceded this one was getting long in the tooth and was originally built by a third party,” says Duncan Clark, SVP and chief content officer, Postmedia. “That made continuous improvement a difficult proposition.”

To fix that problem, the new app was conceived and created entirely in-house, with product and engineering groups collaborating with the content division’s digital strategy teams. Postmedia had alpha and beta versions in market late last year.

But Postmedia didn’t launch the app as a newer version of its old one. “The big impetus was to introduce a higher level of personalization for our users to ensure there’s enough value for them to keep coming back, and to support a digital subscription layer and the most up-to-date ad tech and strategies,” Clark tells MiC.

According to Clark, the app combines a personalized experience with local curation and access to breaking news, all within an interface that, he hopes, will make it easier for readers to engage with all of Postmedia’s brands. “Ultimately it’s about the app’s contribution to our overall goals in engaging users every day with our journalism, but we of course have targets for downloads, MAUs, viewability and registrations and subscriptions.”

Postmedia brands now available on both iOS and Android include: Montreal Gazette, Vancouver Sun, Calgary Herald, Ottawa Citizen, Edmonton Journal, The London Free Press, Regina Leader-Post, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Windsor Star, National Post and Financial Post. 

“If this app gives people more reasons to engage with the news in their community, and helps us understand how to add more value, we’ll know we’re on the right track,” Clark tells MiC.

With new ad units and sponsorship opportunities, the company hopes the app has something for brands, as well. “But advertisers can also expect to get a deeply engaged customer,” Clark says. “Our app users are among our most loyal and passionate fans. App inventory is already available as part of a larger Postmedia network buy, but it can also be targeted separately if that fits better with an advertising plan.”

Postmedia reported a 20.8% drop in ad revenue in its second quarter, which contributed significantly to an overall revenue decline of 13%. But the company is making moves to engage with their audience, and grow it. “We’re working hard to add value that encourages our digital audiences to login and register, and subscribe,” Clark says. “The biggest part of that is our content, but new products like the app and our Puzzmo product that launched last week help support that strategy.”