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Montreal Gazette launches redesign

The Gazette is the second Postmedia newspaper to implement the company’s bold, four-platform strategy with unique content for print, online, tablet and smartphone readers. By Tamara Baluja, Associate Editor The Montreal Gazette received a face lift today. It is the second Postmedia newspaper to implement the company’s bold, four-platform strategy with unique content for print, online, tablet…

The Gazette is the second Postmedia newspaper to implement the company’s bold, four-platform strategy with unique content for print, online, tablet and smartphone readers.

Montreal Gazette redesign

By Tamara Baluja, Associate Editor

The Montreal Gazette received a face lift today.

It is the second Postmedia newspaper to implement the company’s bold, four-platform strategy with unique content for print, online, tablet and smartphone readers.

“This is one of the most ambitious transformations in the 236-year history of the Montreal Gazette,” said editor Lucinda Chodan in a press release. “We are tremendously excited about being able to engage with our readers in deeper and more meaningful ways on all of our platforms.”

The new Gazette will have a redesigned print edition, a responsive design for its web platform, a multimedia evening edition delivered at 6 p.m. on the tablet a and smartphone version that delivers news in short chunks.

Postmedia intends to roll out this four-platform strategy across more brands over the course of the year, spurred by what it calls “very positive” results from its first attempt at the Ottawa Citizen.

Average daily unique visitors on the Citizen’s web, tablet and smartphone platforms have grown by 18 per cent to approximately 1,082,000 unique views between May and July 2014. According to Postmedia, the average user of the tablet consumes more than 13 pages per day and the average smartphone user consumes more than 20 pages per day.

“We are blazing a trail in North American media and playing a long game,” said Paul Godfrey, president and CEO of Postmedia in a press release. “We are pleased with the results in Ottawa and look forward to the feedback from Montreal, but the real story will be told when all our brands and our audiences across Canada can experience the four platform strategy.”