The news portal Watson turns one year old

Watson's go live on the evening of January 22, 2014, came just three weeks after the roughly 50-person editorial team began work (Werbewoche.ch reported). Because many things were not yet fully developed and completed at that time, the portal was launched in a beta version. "We let people watch us make mistakes - because an online news portal is never finished anyway," emphasized co-founder and CEO Hansi Voigt at the launch. Trying out new things, learning from mistakes and being ready to make mistakes have remained important cornerstones of Watson in this first year.

Marked increase in traffic

The beta phase ended after a hundred days. At the beginning of May, Watson published certified traffic figures for the first time and was immediately able to report 602,000 unique clients. By the end of the year, the company had succeeded in significantly increasing traffic: The increase was particularly massive in terms of visits (+115 percent) and page impressions (+331 percent). For January 2015, too, all relevant traffic indicators are again pointing steeply upwards. Not least the news situation at the beginning of the new year - Charlie Hebdo and the liberalization of the Swiss franc exchange rate - helped to sustainably position Watson as a news portal.

Change from pull to push medium

Watson's focus on the smartphone generation has proven successful: In December 2014, 88 percent of all visits were generated via mobile devices. More than almost any other portal, Watson represents the transformation from a pull to a push medium, both with its app and through its social media activities. The site has 50,000 likes on Facebook and almost 25,000 followers on Twitter. The Watson app has been downloaded 115,000 times so far. Users have given it a remarkable 4.5 out of 5 stars - a value that is unparalleled in the news sector.

The search for something new continues

According to the press release, users particularly appreciated the fact that Watson is always trying out new forms of storytelling and presentation. However, this experimentation is by no means limited to the editorial team:

● In the area of advertising, Watson broke new ground and helped establish native advertising as a new form of advertising in Switzerland.

In the IT area, watson's own CMS was continuously expanded and enriched with new features. The focus is currently on individualizing the site for users: With their own profile, they can follow their favorite authors and topics and are informed via their dashboard as soon as new articles are published. "An online news portal is never finished anyway." This slogan still holds true for Watson. On the journalistic side as well as on the commercial and technical side, Watson has Watson set high goals. But one thing is clear after one year: Watson has come to stay.