Keeping up to date on the news is easy these days thanks to online content platforms. News broadcaster NH Nieuws, a regional radio and television channel serving the Dutch province of North Holland, and AT5, a local broadcaster from Amsterdam, distribute news updates 24 hours a day. To cater to their large audiences, convenience and speed are their top priorities. AT5 alone receives around 300,000 visitors daily.

Both broadcasters wanted to develop a single ecosystem to combine the NH News and AT5 websites and apps. The goal was to enable the two companies to tap into synergies between them, so they can update content faster. They wanted to provide a continuous newsfeed that caters fully to the user’s preference. The new platform would also feature a shared set of features and a consistent look and feel. 

During the concept phase, the editors decided they wanted to access their content via both web and apps in the same way, while being able to use all the functionalities adapted to the characteristics of the platform.

We worked with the stakeholders to perform a series of design iterations. After that, the concept was fleshed out using atomic design patterns, which makes design components scalable within the website and apps.

The editorial staff from both companies can choose to use a takeover to update the platform both on the web and on the app, and to focus on a particular topic or story. For example, in the header they can focus on a live blog, the day’s top sports results, or snackable videos related to the top headlines

The new platform was created for the web and on iOS and Android. Both websites are aligned with the corporate identity of AT5 and of NH News and have the same single codebase using the React Native framework. We chose this option to enable our developers to create a dynamic, Javascript platform with a low risk of bugs. The websites are also loaded into the apps and were created in React Native.

Since the launch of the revamped apps, usage has increased significantly. In total, there were more than 257 million page views on NH News and more than 225 million on AT5 (web and app) in 2019.