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The Enhanced Fundamentals Lab (EFL) program of the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) with the support of the Google News Initiative and executed by Marktube Group, has been a driving force for change in the digitalization of Latin American media.
Between August 2023 and mid-2024, eighty media outlets from twelve Central countries and South America received personalized mentoring, access to industry experts, tools and resources to optimize their digital presence, serve their audience and improve their monetization.
“We at the IAPA are very pleased with the successful results of these laboratories supported by Google. Media outlets that I have known for years, some of which have worked from exile, have made significant progress in their way of operating, distributing their content, monetizing it and reporting thanks to this program,” said Roberto Rock, president of the Inter-American Press Association and director of the Mexican website La Silla Rota.
“At Google, we believe in the power of journalism to inform and empower communities. That is why we are committed to working with media organizations in Latin America and around the world to strengthen digital journalism. Through programs like Enhanced Fundamentals Lab, we provide resources, training, and mentoring to help media companies overcome specific challenges and thrive in the digital age. The successes seen by participants, from increases in audiences and revenue to innovative uses of Artificial Intelligence, demonstrate the transformative impact of this alliance. We are proud to play, with the SIP, a positive role in fostering a more sustainable future for journalism in our region,” Rodrigo Bonilla, Leader of News Alliances for Latin America at Google.
Increased Users with Enhanced Fundamentals Lab
40 percent of the participants in the Enhanced Fundamentals Lab saw increases in their unique users and page views.
In addition, significant transformations were observed for participants in internal processes and a change of focus in key areas such as editorial, technology, content development and monetization.
“We feel more empowered and with a more professional approach to content generation. The impact has been very positive,” shared Persio Maldonado, director of El Nuevo Diario de República Dominicana.
“This has been the most impactful program in our field since I can remember. The impact was direct on those of us who have done traditional print journalism and who are undergoing a transformation in our newsrooms,” said Gisela Carmona, director of El Impulso, the longest-running newspaper in Venezuela.
“This program was an opportunity for qualitative change for us. It was a very strong update of our professional practice since we had been working in a certain way since we started 10 years ago. It was a complete update of digital journalism and seeing how this new knowledge is reflected in our daily work,” said Vanessa Valverde, editor at El Mundo de Costa Rica.
“With this program, the Google News Initiative has made a significant mark on the media groups in the SIP by equipping and providing them with the techniques, knowledge and tools necessary to reinforce, rethink and re-launch the digital transformation strategy. The relationship between Google and the SIP is further strengthened through these projects, which are so necessary because they unite forces two protagonists of access to information and freedom of expression, while allowing media with a recognized track record and extensive prestige to formulate proposals and initiatives to better understand and serve audiences. Without a doubt, the big winners are journalism and the public,” commented Carlos Mauricio Flores, director of El Heraldo de Honduras.
Some of the documented changes among participating outlets include:
- content optimization to improve visibility and engagement;
- development of content strategies aimed at different audiences;
- Implementing evergreen content to attract long-term traffic;
- incorporation or improvement in the use of tools such as Google Search Console, Google Analytics 4, Google AdSense and Google AdManager;
- website optimization in line with Core Web Vitals principles to improve user experience and SEO.
- adaptation of the website for mobile devices, ensuring an optimal experience across all channels;
- migration of content management systems (CMS) to more modern and efficient platforms;
- implementation of a programmatic sales strategy to optimize the sale of advertising spaces, and
- optimizing donation strategies to increase reader support.
“We are facing a heterogeneous reality with many opportunities for improvement, and the programs sponsored by the Google News Initiative are intended to address this reality,” said Ezequiel Arbusti, CEO of Marktube Group.
Below are the experiences and changes of some of the participating media:
The New Daily of the Dominican Republic: greater monetization and advertising management
Thanks to the Enhanced Fundamentals Lab, the Dominican media outlet performed optimizations of its ads in both AdSense and AdManager. These optimizations resulted in a 40 percent increase in the revenue generated through its website. In addition, with the implementation funds received, they updated their site.
“This program was extremely innovative for us. We are a newspaper that was very involved in technology early on, but I think that all of this was lacking a more conceptual character. It helped us a lot in empowering our staff and it is not always easy to get everyone on the same page and with the same attitude. I would say that this, beyond what was learned from the technological point of view, this motivation generates a multiplying effect on our attitude,” shared Maldonado.
Personalized mentoring allowed them to qualify their objectives, work on their sustainability, diversify income and have a more direct relationship with its readers.
Implementations:
- New website design in WordPress.
- Development of a content strategy for Latin America.
- Fixes to comply with Google indexing standards.
- Optimizations in AdSense and AdManager.
- Ad Exchange Implementation.
- Negotiation of monetization agreements with third parties.
The World of Costa Rica: increased production thanks to the incorporation of AI
El Mundo decided to rely on technology to optimize its site and automate the processes that its editors performed manually. This allowed them to focus on a greater quantity and diversity of content.
Vanessa Valverde, editor of El Mundo and leader of the media during the program, shares that they took advantage of their project to reflect “on what we have and how we can improve it sustainably in the medium term without having to invest a lot.”
They used the implementation funds received in two ways:
- The update and redesign of the site with a focus on loading times and the display of ads. “If we managed to have a greater number of visits and improve positioning, we would also achieve better display of the ads, increasing our income.”
- The creation of a virtual assistant that would help writers maximize their time, reducing their workload of mechanical tasks and focusing on the content.
“We developed a virtual assistant using artificial intelligence that allows for an audio transcription system for interviews and legislative sessions. In addition, source monitoring gives us visibility of the topics being covered and thus we determine whether or not we are interested in covering them. This translates into time saved for the editors,” explained Valverde.
“The virtual assistant also helps us monitor government sources and know when there are updates to their communications by sending us an alert. The assistant includes other tools such as the generation of images that combine photos with text for banners,” he added.
Valverde shares that the results achieved include an approximate increase of 150% in the amounts received for advertisements and a 33 percent increase in the amount of content generated monthly.
El País de Uruguay: strengthening the path towards Digital First
Prior to its participation in the program, the Uruguayan media outlet was moving towards restructuring itself into a digital-first editorial team. The areas of trend content, sports and entertainment were already guided by this principle, but not the more hard-core areas such as National and Economy.
The fundamental contribution of the program was the support of mentoring focused on the El País team that drives the transformation, by giving it a clearer narrative and review of processes around the logic of production of audiovisual content and also with a more comprehensive approach to audience development.
“When we started the program, we were in the process of developing a digital transformation plan, and our mentor’s vision was key. His experience was essential for us, especially in developing a communication plan and identifying obstacles. In everything we could anticipate, he enriched us with solutions and answers, addressing issues such as managing schedule changes, the roles of web and paper people, and how to deal with the relational aspects that arise in these processes. His contribution was crucial and made the process more user-friendly and successful,” shared Déborah Friedmann, the newspaper’s editorial coordinator.
“The program was key to working on and strengthening multiple areas, as well as exploring new lines of work. It helped us to innovate, to rethink and improve our innovation processes that we already had in mind. In addition, it was motivating to have closer access to knowledge and to be able to involve the different actors in the newsroom in the processes.”
Among the changes achieved are the redefinition of the role of audience editor, team management in the face of digital transformation, and the interaction and processes between the different media platforms.
Implementations:
- Development of strategies with an audience funnel approach.
- Content optimization during peak traffic and queries.
- Editorial planning with an audience focus
- Reformulation of video formats.
The Herald of Honduras: cascading impact
Just two years after completing its transition to digital, El Heraldo, one of the most important newspapers in Honduras, joined the Enhanced Fundamentals Lab program with the mission of strengthening its multimedia area and its monetization strategy.
“The teams that participated have been empowered, they have understood that it is vital to continue challenging ourselves to strengthen and consolidate our relationships with audiences in order to achieve sustainability. We believe that today we have better tools to break barriers and transcend in this transformation process.” This was stated by the director of El Heraldo de Honduras, Carlos Mauricio Flores.
During the first stage of the program, the media experienced a major change in editorial operations, optimizing graphic elements and the performance of the portal. The downloads were reconsidered and a better balance was made between trending content, content evergreen and their own agenda with significant results. They achieved a 93 percent increase in visits and a 30 percent increase in direct traffic.
“We decided to structure a cascading tutoring system. In each training session we received, we tried to pass it on to the rest of the newsroom or at least to the key elements as quickly as possible. And in the group sessions, we integrated those profiles, both technical, strategic, and middle management, who needed to have a conversation so that the suggestions, recommendations and observations they had could be carried out. So, in that case, I can say that the program had a transversal impact in the sense that it helps a lot to reorganize or refocus the journalistic culture that we have here,” shared Denis Eduardo Domínguez, editor of the Investigation Unit, about how they took advantage of the program.
With the support of mentors, the team developed a work plan that increased their YouTube channel’s revenue by 789.2% by March 2024. This is unlike the previous year.
Implementations:
- Optimization of the video strategy that included the creation of avatars using AI to increase production volume.
- Acquisition of specialized equipment for audiovisual production.
- Production of new formats to cover the news offer (podcast).