ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, Mar 2, CMC – The OBSERVER Media Group of Companies (OMG) Friday announced its digital transformation resulting in a drastic change in the publication of its 25 year old newspaper that will now be produced three times a week.
“This is an exciting time for OBSERVER,” said Darren Derrick, chief operating officer, adding “our statistics show that our product is consumed digitally far more than it is in its traditional paper format, and we are making this move to keep up with the demands of our customers.”
In a statement announcing the move, the OMG said that it is in keeping with the global trend toward multimedia delivery platforms and the growing preference of customers to receive their news and entertainment electronically,
“The Daily Observer will now print a physical paper three days per week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday). An electronic version of the newspaper will still be produced six days per week.”
It said that during the election campaign period for the March 21 general election, “the electronic versions of the Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday newspapers will be available free to those who request the paper online….’
“We realise that this is new to people, and there is a great interest in news regarding the general election campaign, so we decided to make the newspapers free for those days that we do not print,” Derrick said, adding “moving forward, we will assess the best delivery methods to satisfy our customers and advertisers”.
Derrick said that an analysis of the global statistics in comparison to Antigua and Barbuda, shows remarkable similarities, and all indicators pointed to “now” as the best time to begin the company’s transition.
“Even in the area of radio, our local listeners are increasingly moving toward online streaming. In the last two years, local listeners have grown by a factor of three and now sit in second place behind the United States. This is driven by the increasing use and convenience of mobile phones as a primary device,” Derrick said.
The company has made the decision to provide the electronic version of the newspaper on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday free of charge during the month of March. “We realise that this is new to people, and there is a great interest in news regarding the general election campaign, so we decided to make the newspapers free for those days that we do not print,” Derrick said. “Moving forward, we will assess the best delivery methods to satisfy our customers and advertisers,” he added.
