Holy Week, innovation and hyperlocal journalism
Canal Sur, the biggest media company in Andalusia, opted for a novel strategy to awaken the interest of the audience during the commemoration of Holy Week.
Canal Sur is recognized for the broadcast of programs that aim to reinforce the Andalusian identity through an offer of quality content
This media Company, founded on 1989, was created with the intention of serving as an instrument of information and participation for Andalusians in the society, culture and politics of the country. In addition to being a means of disseminating the historical, cultural and linguistic values of Andalusia.
In this task to highlight the cultural values of the region of Andalusia and encourage the loyalty of the audience in all its provinces, Canal Sur designed a crossmedia strategy to give full coverage to one of the most important and mobilizing commemorations for Andalusia: The Holy Week. One of the most significant information events in the region.
The app El Llamador is the focus of this strategy, created 9 years ago with the initial objective of applying a modernity trait to the radio program of the same name. During the first years, it was the only app available during the Holy Week in Seville. This resulted in engagement.
Francisco Flores, Content Manager of Canal Sur, explains why this company is committed to an application dedicated exclusively to Holy Week: "Holy Week is one of the most powerful products of the programming of Canal Sur Radio, specifically, El Llamador of Seville, is a true radio and social phenomenon. We have always understood that the app was an ideal complement to the printed version of El Llamador, because the type of audience of the Holy Week programming (mostly young, accustomed to new technologies and very active in social and interactive media) and because the app is great utility on the street during Holy Week. The information, especially of the schedules and itineraries of the processions, is necessary and very demanded among the thousands of people from Sevilla who are on the street these days. "
This year, Canal Sur trusted Protecmedia to carry out some substantial improvements in the application: "Our main objective this year was the perfect functioning of the Geolocation service, which is launched in the applications of Seville and Malaga, as it is a service very demanded by the audience. This is the great contribution of the app with respect to the paper book. It was also very important to us that from the Holy Week app there was a quick and direct access to the programming of Canal Sur Radio and Canal Sur Television. Listening to the radio and watching TV in the app seems like a perfect integration of all our products".
In addition, some changes were made to the navigation tree, to make them clearer and more practical for the user.
)Take advantage of the scope and interest around the commemoration of Holy Week to offer the community information in an agile and direct way, which facilitates and promotes their interaction.
Adapt the content of the printed guide El Llamador to the digital format, adding values such as geolocation and access to radio and television streaming.
Implement technology to improve the app with respect to the past years and respond to the information needs of the audience, offering quality content and innovation.
Take advantage of the potential of the different platforms of Canal Sur to design a global strategy that has diffusion through different formats and a greater reach in the audience.
Attract the target audience with the idea of building loyalty and generating interest in the values of the brand and its content.
Connect with the audience of the provinces belonging to Andalusia, through the development of a specific mobile application for each one (7 in total) for IOS and Android. Generation of quality content that offers added value to the coverage of Holy Week in each of these regions.
Develop a website through which the contents of the different applications are fed.
Guarantee the audience access to information immediately and directly. Add elements such as tracking the processions.
This year, our main goal for the app was to guarantee the perfect functioning of the Geolocation service, which was activated in the applications of Sevilla and Málaga, since it is a service highly demanded by the audience and the great differentiating element of the app on the paper book. Francisco Flores, Content Manager of Canal Sur
Guarantee the synergy of all the multimedia platforms, through the live transmission of the live signals on radio and television. Incorporate, in addition, access to the social networks of Canal Sur.
The app El Llamador app comes to complete the product of the radio programs and the handbooks that are published each year for Holy Week. Radio, paper and the app are a very interesting "package" for the audience and advertisers
Promote the interaction of the audience through sending push notifications and access to social networks from each of the applications.
Implement an innovative publishing platform, accessible from any geographical point, for the management of digital content.
Strengthen the recognition of the brand and its values
The Protecmedia team was responsible, within a record period of 4 weeks, for the development of 7 applications, for IOS and Android (in total 14 apps), as well as a web page, implemented in the Protecmedia content manager, through the which would feed the contents of the applications.
In the 7 apps, corresponding to the cities of Seville, Malaga, Granada, Huelva, Jerez and Córdoba, the user could find information about the brotherhoods and the processions, historical data, news of interest, as well as a detailed planning of the schedules of each day
The content of the app is the reflection of the "handbooks" or Holy Week guides that Canal Sur Radio publishes in different cities
Protecmedia's technology also allowed applications to have direct access to live broadcasts of Canal Sur's radio and television programming, in addition to social networks.
Interaction and mobility were the most important added values offered by these applications to users. The example of this is how the Apps of Seville and Malaga, through an API, were able to track the processions, geolocating them on a map in real time.
The newsroom took advantage of the potentialities of the content manager in browser of Protecmedia to boost the publication of news in each app during coverage
The Apps had push notifications integrated from the MAS audience management platform.
This platform has strengthened the connection with our audience. The app has allowed us to show part of our content in a new platform and to offer a constant geolocation service of the route of the different brotherhoods or steps through the Andalusian cities. A possibility that reinforces our sense of public service to the Andalusians.
Below, some global results extracted from the total of the apps. This data corresponds to the period from the activation of the apps to the last day of the Holy week coverage:
43.732 downloads in total, in IOS and Android
4.111.200 pageviews
630.382 visits
597.850 visits from smartphones
Total time of the visitors in the apps: More than 66 hours
13% bounce rate
45 sent notifications
9 mil suscribers to push notifications
Advertising
4.056.115 ad server impressions
11.511 ad server clics
Source: Management Audience and Segmentation Platform, MAS