In the first step of a company wide update for all of Hearst Magazines publications, Cosmopolitan has relaunched its US site with responsive design and a new back-end platform.
According to Hearst, the new site framework will support better digital storytelling and content marketing, and will serve as a model for all their digital properties globally. It includes new publishing tools, a content personalisation engine and a streamlined front-end design aimed at delivering content to readers with increased ease.
The responsive design is key to Hearst’s strategy, with 69 per cent of Cosmopolitan.com’s page views coming from mobile. The site’s new feed structure has been designed with mobile users in mind, with a focus on highly shareable content.
“This is Cosmo in the palm of your hand,” said Cosmopolitan editor in chief Joanna Coles. “To be relevant, brands need to be where the audience is and Cosmo readers live much of their life with their phone strapped to their hand. We are there with them as they wake up, as they go through their day and as they recharge at night. And when they need to unplug, they reach for the magazine.”
Cosmopolitan.com’s traffic has increased nearly 200 per cent year-on-year, reaching 30m unique visitors, and in less than a year it has raised average visits per piece published by 250 per cent and quadrupled on-site shares. The new platform enables both editors and advertisers to take advantage of this traffic, streamlining their user experience, with equal access to vehicles for promoting and guiding consumption.
“Advertisers have wanted to be adjacent to the powerful influence of Cosmopolitan editorial content for 50 years,” said Todd Haskell, SVP/chief revenue officer for Hearst Magazines Digital Media. “They now have the ability to create branded content experiences on Cosmopolitan.com that leverage our authority and expertise in a manner that’s clearly labeled for the reader, and can further amplify those messages with the unprecedented power of the Cosmopolitan brand on social media. The market is already excited about the possibilities, and we’ll have lots of great examples to showcase in the coming months.”
Hearst’s digital team has an aggressive rollout scheduled to bring the new design platform to the rest of its sites, with Cosmopolitan‘s UK website planned to relaunch by the end of the month, followed by the US sites for Elle and Esquire, with the remaining Hearst publications all following suit over the next year.
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