Relaunching FAM projects

The Swedish Times was once envisioned as a low-cost player in the Scandinavian online newspaper and Publisher industry, with the goal of providing a new, innovative and optimised news platform for delivering the latest content to its international readership. However, the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the indefinite suspension of the project, leaving its future uncertain. Despite this adverse circumstance, the management team at CW1 recognized an opportunity to revitalize The Swedish Times and ensure its eventual success with a completely redone business model.

The newspaper industry is facing a multitude of challenges, including a general decline in readership and the proliferation of new digital media platforms. The situation is compounded by the intense competition and media monopolies in Scandinavia, making it difficult for start-ups to establish a foothold and succeed. Nevertheless, the team at CW1 is confident that The Swedish Times can overcome these challenges through the implementation of a well-crafted plan. At the heart of this plan is their Fast-Acquisition-Market (FAM) strategy, a crucial component in their efforts to revive The Swedish Times.

The FAM strategy seeks to enable the newspaper to rapidly expand and become autonomous from the main core business within a quarter of a year. This will set The Swedish Times apart from its competition and aid in the establishment of a strong reputation in the industry. The management at CW1 has extensively studied the success stories of other start-ups and recognizes the paramount importance of partnerships with other businesses and organizations. Such relationships will broaden their audience and enhance their reputation, further contributing to the eventual success of The Swedish Times.

The management team at CW1 was determined to revive The Swedish Times and position it as a major player in the online newspaper industry. To accomplish this, the team initiated a comprehensive analysis of the project's target market, operations, market trends, and competitors. This analysis was a critical step in understanding the key elements that would contribute to the success of The Swedish Times and differentiate it from its competition.

The results of the analysis were revealing. The target audience was primarily composed of young entrepreneurs and tech-savvy individuals who placed a high value on convenience and timeliness in their news sources. Furthermore, the trend towards mobile usage for accessing news was confirmed, with over 60% of visits to The Swedish Times website originating from mobile devices. This information was critical in achieving step II.

This led to the second point of the team analysis. The operations analysis revealed that newspapers operations had a significant shift towards digital operations, with online newspapers leading the way. The widespread adoption of smartphones and the internet has resulted in an increase in the consumption of news through digital platforms. This shift has resulted in traditional print newspapers losing market share to their digital counterparts, as more and more people prefer to access news through their devices. In response, traditional newspapers have invested heavily in their digital operations, developing mobile apps and websites to cater to this growing demand. This has led to a highly competitive market, with online newspapers constantly innovating and experimenting with new formats such as podcasts, videos, and virtual reality to engage their audience and remain relevant in the digital age. Despite the challenges, the trend towards digital operations in the newspaper industry is expected to continue, as technology continues to shape the way we consume information and news.

The online newspaper market has seen significant growth in 2021 and 2022, with a growing number of people turning to digital platforms for their news. According to recent studies, the number of people accessing news online has increased by over 40% in the past two years, with the majority of this growth coming from mobile devices. Additionally, online newspaper revenue has also seen a significant increase, with digital advertising revenue surpassing print advertising revenue for the first time in 2022. Even if the Pandemic seems to have slow down, this trend is expected to continue, with projections indicating that the online newspaper industry will see a compound annual growth rate of nearly 15% over the next five years. These statistics highlight the importance of digital operations in the newspaper industry and the increasing demand for news and information through online platforms.

In Scandinavia, the media and newspaper industry has become heavily consolidated, with two major media groups controlling a significant portion of the market. One by controlling different newspapers, and the other by controlling the flow of information and access to visual resources. This has made it difficult for startups and new entrants to gain a foothold in the industry, as they face significant competition from established players. Furthermore, accessing funding for new ventures in the Swedish media and newspaper market can also be challenging, as investors tend to favour established companies with a proven track record. This concentration of control has limited the opportunities for innovation and competition in the Swedish media and newspaper market, making it harder for startups to succeed and grow. These factors have led to calls for greater diversity and competition in the Swedish media and newspaper market, to ensure that new voices and perspectives are heard and that the industry remains dynamic and responsive to the changing needs of consumers.

The three major results from the study analysis performed revealed some of the major flaws of why the project was never successful from the first instance. 

1.  The project statement of focusing on a target group where awareness was not there was a problem.

2. The content was not in real-time, or it had too much personalised opinion.

3. Although the core statement of the project of offering information for free, there was no clear model of funding and generating revenue. 

4. The input interfaces where not digital enough to meet the requirements of the tech savvy readers audience.

The team at CW1 devised a comprehensive plan to revitalise The Swedish Times that included a complete redesign of its statement, vision and objectives, by adjusting the content to fit the old mission statement, while at the same time meeting the real audience that the newspaper had. This was achieved by focusing the theme of the news around entrepreneurship, business, finance and tech. 

The most challenging point was though to bring worthy information in real time, or updated. As such, the team make usage from Nortb RadarX which allowed to create an automation script to detect the most important news from the hour the script would run, and publish it directly to the website, by usage of AI models such as Davinci (for text generation) and Dall-E for text understanding and selecting the right picture from open source stock banks (Pexels and Unsplash).

Regarding the input interfaces itselves - the website -, CW1 redesign it with a focus on enhancing user experience and engagement. The website's redesign incorporated the latest technologies, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, to provide a personalized and interactive experience for each user. The team also made a renewed commitment to high-quality and timely content, establishing a dedicated team of management consultants with focus on data analysis and scrapping to produce news and feature articles of the highest standard.

These basic results of these efforts were impressive. Since the implementation of the plan, The Swedish Times has seen a significant increase in website traffic, with a 32% increase in page views and a 24% increase in the average time spent on the site. The number of daily unique visitors also rose by 17%. These results demonstrate the success of the management team at CW1's efforts to revive The Swedish Times and position it as a leading player in the online newspaper industry. With its innovative approach, dedicated team, and commitment to excellence, The Swedish Times is poised for continued success and growth.

Although we did not end up here. 

MVP works, time for real work

Based on the results of the phase 1, the team at CW1 has new recommendations for The Swedish Times project phase II:

• Start with a clear collaboration program with different entities in the ecosystem of the Project.

• Establish a clear revenue generating program with funding obtained through strategic partnerships and subjacent platforms.

• Acquire fast market through innovative strategic partnerships with global news media companies and data analytics agencies.

In conclusion, the recommendations made by the team at CW1 are aimed at ensuring the success of the Swedish Times project in phase 2. By starting with a clear collaboration program, the project will be able to leverage the strengths of all stakeholders, resulting in a more efficient and effective outcome. The establishment of a clear revenue generation program will ensure that the project is able to sustain itself in the long run, and the implementation of innovative strategic partnerships with global news media companies and data analytics agencies will help the project to reach a wider audience and gather valuable insights.

The team at CW1 believes that if these recommendations are followed, the Swedish Times project will be well on its way to success. A collaborative and well-funded project, combined with a fast market acquisition, will give the project the resources and support it needs to thrive.