WOW247 reaches one million readers three months after launch

Entertainment platform WOW247 passed the one million users mark three months after its re-launch, announcing last week that 1,035,753 people visited the website in July.

The site, owned by Johnston Press, became fully responsive at the end of May, transitioning from listing-based content to an editorial outlet for younger audiences.

"We realised our product had become a bit outdated and, unsurprisingly, we've seen a huge increase in mobile consumption throughout the first eight weeks," said Steven Thomas, general manager of WOW247.

He attributed the platform's successful start – passing the milestone six months ahead of target – to the type of content published, which he calls a "two fold approach that stacks up against other similar types of UK entertainment sites", such as Time Out, The Skinny or The List.

WOW247 produces two types of content: "genre specific" stories such as music and film reviews, events coverage, quizzes and food recipes among others; and individual city guides from ten key cities across the UK.

"If you look at the volume of content we produce on a daily basis and the genres we are covering, I think we have a really strong article count that plays out well on a responsive website," said Thomas.

WOW247 publishes anything from 20 to 50 articles a day, depending on the number of outside contributions and the events taking place in the cities it covers.

It now has a network of 240 bloggers, some coming in through the WOW Academy, a training programme for people who want to break into the media industry.

Contributors work alongside their city editors and have regular meetings with the head of UK content and the community manager in order to establish how many stories they are expected to write and their tone and quality.

"A lot of people who are coming in to contribute are maybe still finding their way in terms of developing their own digital publishing skills," said Thomas, "but we really value the opinions and support that we get through our network."

WOW247 doesn't want to "grab content from people and aim for them to contribute for free", he said, explaining that contributors receive payment for some of their articles depending on "how much time and effort they've put into it".

The platform has also been building a presence on social media through multiple Twitter and Facebook accounts, and at a time where news outlets are shutting down comment sections, the team wants to enable commenting on the website.

"It may be that commenting is a quick indication of whether people like or dislike things, or it may be that it's quite limiting in terms of the depth of what they can write.

"But I think that a lot of the guides we produce probably could still garner some sort of interaction on the site, although social media will still be the more prevalent place for people to comment and interact."

WOW247 is now looking to expand by adding two or three cities to the list over the coming weeks, but also by developing "single use" mobile apps.

This is something the team experimented with during the festival season, and Thomas said the idea could apply to more of the site's content, such as the guides it produces on topics like food and drinks.

"We certainly won't be resting on our laurels. We will continue to listen and learn each day and optimise our content plans thereafter," he said.

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