While Tuesday was black for some of the country’s biggest media players this week, the National Post came through with flying colours with over a million page views that same day, according to Omniture data. Whether it was fuelled by the latest parliamentary antics or continuing market turmoil, live blogs with the paper’s political columnists saw a frenzy of click-throughs by visitors seeking commentary and analysis to make sense of it all.
Jonathan Harris, VP digital media, National Post tells MiC the paper’s focus on Canadian politics and issues have been instrumental to the success of the site’s latest interactive features like its Full Comment page, where live debates with the Financial Post‘ and the NP‘s premiere columnists have boosted traffic – 927,000 uniques last month alone, according to comScore. ‘We’re seeing [FullComment.com] take off with our readers and it’s one of the things that has been powering our growth,’ Harris tells MiC.
The paper recently launched its mobile-optimized sites at m.nationalpost.com
and m.financialpost.com, accessible from iPhones, Blackberrys and other smartphones, and with full search capabilities through the site’s blogs, news stories and live feeds.
Other initiatives include the paper’s Stock Star Challenge, the country’s first real-time stock market contest. Launched in September, the new platform sponsored by Vancouver-based discount brokerage Credential Direct, saw over 31,000 savvy investors and novices from over a dozen MBA schools across Canada register and compete with the markets in real time for prizes worth $150,000. Harris says the stock market trading platform will be back in February.
The Post‘s new lively forum, the Financial Post Executive site, has MBA students across the country blogging and producing content that’s reverse-published in the daily’s print format. Sponsors on board with that initiative include KPMG and America’s University.
Other brands currently advertising on the site include Cadillac, ISCO, IBM and Royal Bank, and partnerships with local retailers like Sporting Life, which just launched its e-commerce site, have been integrated with the paper’s sports platform.
