Reinventing the reading experience for African audiences.

Challenge

A respected media brand with a beloved masthead — and a product experience that had not kept pace with how its readers actually consume the internet.

Context

Three markets, a newsroom under pressure, and a subscription business that had to start paying for the journalism it carried.

Thinking

Readers don't leave good writing. They leave friction. The turnaround wasn't editorial — it was the six invisible seams between a headline and a habit.

Approach

Ran reader research across three markets. Rebuilt the reading, subscription and Sunday-longform experiences. Shipped in six-week cycles alongside the in-house team.

Execution

Eight months, four ship cycles, one new subscription funnel, one Sunday product, and a research practice the newsroom still runs monthly.

Impact

Session length up 2.4×, Sunday retention at 60%, and a subscriptions funnel that finally paid for the journalism it was carrying.