Newspack is joining with Pugpig to make creating customizable and engaging mobile apps easier and more affordable for our publishers.
Pugpig is a mobile publishing platform founded in London in 2011 by today’s CEO, Jonny Kaldor, and CTO, Jon Marks, following the cancellation of News Corp’s Project Alesia, which both had been working on. Drawing on that experience, they set out to build a fully native publishing platform that combined the power of structured content and HTML to make mobile publishing simple, flexible, and scalable.
By working with Pugpig, Newspack publishers have an opportunity to offer readers a premium mobile experience that deepens engagement while streamlining internal workflows.
Pugpig has done a tremendous job developing apps for large media organizations. By working together, we hope to bring that same opportunity to local publishers at an affordable price.
Kinsey Wilson
Founder & Head of Newspack
An easy-to-use mobile app builder integrated with Newspack
The partnership allows Newspack publishers to quickly build and launch apps on the Pugpig platform. Publishers can choose between a light version of Pugpig’s mobile app product or a full-featured version, depending on budget and needs.
Pugpig Bolt supports audio, video, podcasts, live breaking news, digital editions, puzzles, and much more. You can build beautifully simple branded mobile apps that properly embrace the power of mobile and will have your audience hooked.
The Pugpig Bolt plugin integrates with Newspack, meaning you can create content as usual in Newspack and publish in Pugpig with no extra editorial effort. All the content you publish works well across every type of mobile device. Pugpig Bolt is available on all the major app stores.
Pugpig also integrates with Google Analytics and Parse.ly, so you can measure what’s working and comes with all the features you need, including sharing, deep linking, search, text resize, night mode, dynamic timelines, personalization, and more.
It’s also integrated with Newspack’s Audience Management system so that membership and subscription rights work seamlessly across platforms.
Engage your audience through a customized mobile experience
Lookout Santa Cruz was the first Newspack publisher to take advantage of this new partnership. The digital publication is part of the wider Lookout Local network, founded by media analyst Ken Doctor, to serve local communities with a higher standard of news and community engagement.
As part of their expansion efforts, the Lookout team deployed Pugpig Bolt in its second market, Lookout Eugene-Springfield.
“Newspack has been the center of our tech stack rationalization, lowering costs and propelling reader revenue faster growth, and now we’re glad to sync in Pugpig’s app product and experience,” said Doctor.
All Island Media is another of Newspack’s publishers to use Pugpig Bolt to expand its digital footprint. After launching the Jersey Evening Post and Bailwick Express, they launched mobile apps for each site.
“Between the launch of three fresh news websites on Newspack a few months ago and the introduction of new apps for the Jersey Evening Post and Bailiwick Express with Pugpig, the last few months have seen the biggest digital transformation in our history,” said All Island Media’s CEO and Editor-In-Chief, James Filleul.
And, the Missouri-based Houston Herald recently launched its Pugpig Bolt app, bringing together personalization, local events, and a weekly e-edition within a metered paywall designed to drive engagement and subscriber growth.
“Partnering with Pugpig and Newspack has transformed how we deliver news at the Houston Herald,” said Isaiah Buse, Houston Herald owner/editor. “The app launch was seamless and gives our readers a faster, more engaging way to connect with local news. We’ve already seen strong adoption and positive feedback, and we’re confident this partnership will help us grow our audience while keeping community news at the center of what we do.”
It’s long been a personal goal of mine to build a partnership with Kinsey and the Newspack team – what they do is so important for local news media and we’re extremely happy to be able to get involved with their awesome work.
Jonny Kaldor
Pugpig, CEO
Newspack publishers can contact the Pugpig team with any questions via info@pugpig.com.
Request a demo from us if you’re interested in using Newspack.
