IBT Media announced complete website redesigns for the company's flagship brands, Newsweek and International Business Times.
The new website for IBT went live immediately, but Newsweek's web relaunch won't take place for a few weeks, according to the company.
[Update: the new Newsweek.com launched on Dec. 17.]
Aimed at both improving the user experience and providing increased integrated sponsorship opportunities, both redesigns include an overhaul of the general aesthetic, mobile optimization and increased image and video capabilities.
"We want to leverage the brilliant editorial newsroom built by IBT Media to integrate brands where appropriate," Thomas Hammer, SVP of sales tells Folio:. "We're even growing our sales team to factor this in and will be working to develop the creative content with our advertising partners."
New ad formats set to debut with the relaunch include the Interactive Advertising Bureau's (IAB) Rising Stars platform, as well as new enhancements of native advertising and video content.
"Our partners will benefit from sites designed with the ads as opposed to around them, meaning a clean, engaging environment for their messages," said IBT Media's chief experience officer, Richard Pasqua, in an official statement.
The old (above) and new (below) logos for International Business Times
"We made sure that each article page offers up links to other Newsweek stories that represent the depth and breadth of our coverage," Impoco tells Folio:.
For Newsweek, the new aesthetic will incorporate design elements from the print magazine, including new fonts and larger headlines and images. International Business Times gets a new logo, designed to reflect the brand's "forward thinking," according to IBT Media, as well as a streaming feed for new stories and more emphasis on market graphics.
IBT Media acquired Newsweek from IAC late in 2013 and resurrected the magazine's print edition the following March. Since taking over as editor-in-chief two years ago, Impoco has made considerable efforts to increase the formerly-embattled brand's digital footprint and revitalize newsstand and subscription sales.
The international editions of the Newsweek and International Business Times websites are expected to follow suit with the redesigns in 2016.
