Johannesburg, 09 Jul 1999
News24, an online Internet news service, is to become the news supplier for the recently relaunched portals M-Web and 24.com, as well as SuperSportzone and Moneymax. News24 will be supplying subscribers with hourly updated financial, political and sports news.
Launched in October 1998 as part of Naspers`s Internet strategy, New24`s recent audited ABIS figures for the first quarter of this year record an average of 489 884 ad impressions per month whilst more recent, although unaudited, figures for the month of June are 1,3 million ad impressions. This threefold growth demonstrates the popularity of online instant news 24 hours a day.
Content for News24 is not only provided by the group`s newspapers across the country, but also by news agencies, independent newspapers such as the Natal Witness, correspondents and columnists.
The site updates breaking news (general, sport, business, health, entertainment, motoring, science and technology and political news) 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with particular focus on South African news and events elsewhere in Africa.
News24 publisher Arrie Rossouw says "Judging from the response received from the recent tickers which were established to track the election results and World Cup cricket scores, this is exactly what South Africans want. The election ticker received 48 500 unique visitors in two days and CricketLine 360 000 unique visitors during the World Cup."
Glenn Chapman of Internet advertising agency Jagly Intermedia says these figures prove why event-driven campaigns work so well. "The site was the major source of information about the election, where people could obtain instant, up-to-date results. It`s also why Net access was so slow on June 2," he adds.
News24 also maintains Afrikaans Web sites for the Afrikaans newspapers Beeld (beeld.24.com), Die Burger (dieburger.24.com) and Die Volksblad (volksblad.24.com).
Rossouw says "No other site in South Africa can claim to offer such extensive up-to-date news coverage. The newspaper sites are updated daily - with all the features associated with a printed newspaper, including news, letters and editorial comment."
News24 - _ HYPERLINK http://www.news.24.com __http://www.news.24.com_
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