The media brand 20 Minutes has entered, since the beginning of September, a new 100% digital era. An opportunity for it to evolve its editorial and advertising model.
“This year is our 22nde back to school. The opportunity for us to present to you all the new features that we want to put in place for a new start.” These are the words used by Ronan Dubois, president and publishing director of 20 minutesopened the press conference organized on September 11 to reveal the media’s new commercial and editorial strategies.
First change: since September, the print-digital bimedia has become a digital-TV bimedia. “Consumer needs have changed considerably since the health crisis. Our print format was mainly distributed in train stations, metro stations and city centers. And in recent years, this format has declined, to the benefit of digital (Editor’s note: the media counts 16.5 million unique visitors per month, 80 million views of its videos and 7 million subscribers to its social networks). This year, the return to school is therefore taking place without print for our media.”explains Ronan Dubois.
The media brand also intends to strengthen its efforts to develop its television channel – entitled 20 Minutes TV Île-de-France – which it launched in May 2023. Available on channel no32 of the Ile-de-France TNT, it has become, in just one year, the second local channel in Île-de-France. And like the media’s website and social networks, it will assimilate, from this year, the new editorial project of 20 Minutes.
More room for entertainment
This is the second announcement of this new school year: 20 Minutes intends to consolidate its position as “daily companion of the French”. To this end, the editorial team wishes to offer service-oriented and useful content, as close as possible to the concerns of its readers, and to leave more room for entertainment.We want to combine our information DNA with entertainment and services”summarizes the general manager of 20 Minutes.
“Cigarette break, table football… How can you not come across as a slacker at work?” or even “What can you do to stop being overdrawn and control your budget?. These are the types of articles that readers can now find on the media site. “If you have a question, there is still a good chance that you will find an answer in one of our articles”assures Fanny Annoot-Oualia, editorial director of 20 Minutes.
A visual identity overhaul planned for 2025
At the same time, to highlight its new entertainment, lifestyle and culture offering, the media intends to develop the TikTok-style vertical video format. “We want to offer a complete experience to our readers, both in terms of the themes covered and the formats used.”continues Fanny Annoot-Oualia.
This new editorial project – intended to participate in the “perpetual rejuvenation of the audience” – will be accompanied by a redesign of the visual identity of the media brand. After the launch of a new site in February and a new application in March, 20 Minutes is starting a process of modernizing its image which should result in a change of logo by 2025. “Our current logo is great and very recognizable but we want to transport it to another era by modernizing it considerably”confides the general director of the media.
With a share of revenues from special operations (OPS) and brand content growing by 30% in the first half of the year, 20 Minutes also intends to assert its ambitions in the advertising market by multiplying, in particular, its OPS revenues by three by 2027. The media is therefore expanding its range of solutions and formats this year by developing new offers dedicated to the creation of content for brands: from text to games, including video, images and even social media… “These editorial contents are intended to unite communities around a brand and its universe, drawing on the know-how and specificities of 20 Minutes: creation, editing, video, social, SEO”the media said in a press release.
A partnership with the 366 agency
To support this new era and strengthen its advertising development, 20 Minutes has also entered into a strategic partnership with the 366 agency, dedicated to the advertising marketing of regional daily press (PQR) spaces. As of September 16, 2024, the media brand will thus entrust the marketing of its classic inventories (display and video, over-the-counter and programmatic) to the agency. “In a market saturated with offers and alliances, 20 Minutes could no longer remain isolated, even with powerful and solid audiences. Relying on 366 means relying on a leading agency, recognized for its expertise, leadership and dynamism, particularly in digital and innovation.”argues Ronan Dubois.
Four devices – called “Full Day”, “9:16”, “Divertissime” and “Hexago Drive” – will be launched through this partnership. The development of the brand content offer on the vertical video format (with “9:16”) or the coverage of all distribution networks in France (“Hexago Drive”) will be, among other things, thus enabled. A team of six people (three salespeople, two people for Ad Operations and a marketer) from 366 will also be entirely dedicated to the media.
Source: www.e-marketing.fr
