Regional publisher Johnston Press has launched a new digitally-led title for the city of Belfast, to be complemented by a weekly paper.
It has created Belfastvibe as a digital-first brand which is targeted at a “millennial” audience of 18-35-year-olds.
The responsive website was launched yesterday and will be complemented by a free weekly magazine-style paper from 9 April, which will curate a mixture of content from the site.
The launch extends JP’s footprint in Northern Ireland, where the company already publishes regional daily the Belfast News Letter and a number of weekly titles.
Chief executive Ashley Highfield said: “Johnston Press is dedicated to connecting communities, and we’ve carried out extensive market research on how millennials want local news and information to ensure that Belfastvibe fulfills on this.
“We now have a clear guide on the topics that millennials will respond to, and the best channels to communicate them, so it’s great to put this into practice in such an exciting city.”
Belfastvibe aims to cover a combination of trending news, viral content feeds, ‘street life’ and general lifestyle topics, along with the latest celebrity and sports stories.
It will also use social media to amplify its own stories and create additional user generated content.
Warren Butcher, MD of Belfastvibe, said: “Belfast is a lively, bustling metropolis, rich in culture and energy, and we want Belfastvibe to reflect that, speaking to the city’s millennials about the things that are most important to them, inviting them to explore their interests and passions, and providing them with a unique insight into the city they live in.”
According to JP, around 130,000 20-34-year-olds live in the Greater Belfast area and Belfastvibe aims to capitalise on this by offering unique content and a strong advertising proposition for local businesses.
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Exciting again!
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Oh goody, I just love top ten lists and retro filter photographs. It’s making the tips of my hip moustache stand on end. Well done you lot around your big table in London. This clickbait nonsense should really get the pounds flowing in again. Must be a case of ‘let’s try this out in Northern Ireland, they’re ten years behind us anyway, they might actually fall for this crap’.
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To paraphrase the Young Ones…
Hi! My name’s Ash! And me and my mates thought that newspapers just weren’t now! Right? I expect, like us, you’re not into all that stuff your “old man’s” into! Right! So! We just thought we’d have a website for us! Right! And this is it! Nozin’ Around! Yeah, N-O-Zed! Zed for Zap! It’s a website for young adults, made by young adults, and concentratin’ on all the subjects that young adults are into!
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‘Millennials’ … more jargon imported from the US to describe people born in the 1980s and 1990s. Never heard kids born then refer to themselves as ‘millennials’. More digi nonsense from Highfield.
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You can’t knock JP for doing what every paper I have worked on has done over the years – ie try and attract younger readers by talking in their language about stuff they are interested in.
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I hope I’m wrong. But I have a suspicion that it’s being done in the grand JP tradition – a minimum of investment, a minimum of staff and half-cocked promotion.
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@confused. I’m sorry but no, 18-35 ‘younger readers’ do not speak in a different language. (bit of gaelic or ulster Scots perhaps). But if I’m wrong, and this Americanised buzz feed jargon is it, then I hope I make it to 36. Good luck with the site… 😉 yolo etc.
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Congratulations Warren/JP for trying something different. Better to have tried and failed, than die wondering, like I’d imagine most of the haters on this site would prefer.
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Belfastvibe aims to cover a combination of trending news, viral content feeds, ‘street life’ and general lifestyle topics, along with the latest celebrity and sports stories.
It will also use social media to amplify its own stories
……..As I believe some folk say in the north: Cop on to yourself, Ash!!!
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Why do JP shares continue to fall despite the non-stop sackings, the newsroom of the future and all the other insanities imposed from above? I think I’ve just answered my own question!
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