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Mediahuis
Every day, millions of people visit one of Mediahuis’s many news sites. Thanks in part to Axxes, the teams behind the scenes now understand better than ever which articles perform well and why.
If you look at the most popular websites in Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, or Luxembourg, you’ll undoubtedly find Mediahuis platforms among them. Millions of people visit Het Nieuwsblad, De Telegraaf, or the Irish Independent to see what’s happening in the world today.
To build those sites, and to see what performs well and what doesn’t, Mediahuis relies on the Technology & Product Studio. “We work here with a team of just under 500 people who are steeped in technology and innovation. TPS is closely aligned with the business and develops solutions that are relevant to the entire group. That’s important when you operate in multiple countries and have different brands,” says Pieter Van Bael, Solution Owner at Mediahuis.
Strong brands at the center
Mediahuis wants to double down on those strong brands. That’s important at a time when news is becoming a commodity and generative AI is rapidly on the rise. “Each channel has its own identity and niche within the group,” Pieter explains. “In Ireland, for example, Sunday World is very strong in crime reporting. In Flanders, people spontaneously associate Het Nieuwsblad with sports.”
“We keep innovating at Mediahuis, including initiatives with generative AI. By regularly organizing a ‘Maker Week’, we can bring people from different domains and disciplines together around an interesting topic, such as newsletters or our paywalls. Those small cross-disciplinary teams then spend a week coming up with ideas that are often further developed into new products.”
We wanted a second opinion and to benchmark our platform against the market. Axxes was able to do that for us within a month. The consultants were regularly on-site and consistently conveyed calm and professionalism. There was also plenty of bandwidth to ask questions, which inspires a lot of confidence.
AN ASSESSMENT OF THE FRONTEND
As Solution Owner, Pieter is responsible for several products, including the platform on which Mediahuis develops all data products and performs data analyses. “I also work on the traffic dashboard, which gives journalists and editorial staff across the group insights into how well certain articles perform. They see more than just visitor numbers; they also know which articles have the intrinsic journalistic value we strive for.”
A crucial system for the media group, but the frontend was hopelessly outdated. “At that point we approached several parties and ultimately chose Axxes because they had the strongest competencies,” says Pieter.
Initially, Rutger and Yannick from Axxes performed an assessment of the traffic dashboard and then listed a number of priorities. Pieter: “We wanted a second opinion and to benchmark our platform against the market. Axxes was able to do that for us within a month. The consultants were regularly on-site and consistently conveyed calm and professionalism. There was also plenty of bandwidth to ask questions, which inspires a lot of confidence.”
The result was a wake-up call for Mediahuis that gained broad internal support, Pieter says. “We shared that presentation across the entire company with other people working on the frontend so they could learn from it as well.”
The result of the assessment was a wake-up call for Mediahuis that gained broad internal support. We shared that presentation across the entire company with other people working on the frontend so they could learn from it as well.
Implementation
The assessment produced many recommendations, but the team working on the traffic dashboard couldn’t execute them alone. “We’re a cross-disciplinary team in which one person focuses on the frontend and four others work on the backend and data. The dashboard consisted of about 80 screens that we wanted to split into reusable components. It was a big job, but thanks to Axxes we were able to seriously increase the pace.”
The assessment resulted in many recommendations, but the team working on the traffic dashboard couldn’t implement them all on its own. Thanks to Axxes, we were able to significantly accelerate. It’s great to work quickly and efficiently with people who know their craft and can immediately take ownership.
Axxes consultants Michiel and Thomas joined the team and stayed in close contact with Michael, who works at Mediahuis as a developer. Pieter: “They formed a triangle where, as Team Lead, I rarely had to step in. Without much guidance, they dove straight into the work and were part of the team from day one. It’s great to work quickly and efficiently with highly skilled professionals who can immediately take things on.”
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