SINGAPORE: On Wednesday (Aug 28), Mediacorp announced that TODAY’s digital newsroom will merge with CNA’s digital newsroom beginning Oct 1, 2024.
This will result in TODAY becoming CNA’s digital long-form weekend magazine, and the merger aims to strengthen the latter news site.
Mediacorp added in its announcement that no staff will lose their positions due to the merger since TODAY personnel will be offered roles at CNA.
From Oct 1 onward, the TODAY app and website will no longer be updated. Instead, its new content will be on the CNA website. However, TODAY will keep its current social media presence, directing its audience to CNA.
“This merger will allow the best of TODAY – its high-quality original journalism – to be served via CNA’s digital platform to the significantly larger CNA audience both in Singapore and overseas,” the company said.
It also said that the merger will mean TODAY will concentrate on analyses of current issues under the Big Read brand, news features, human interest interviews, and weekend opinion pieces to enhance CNA’s online offerings.
“This merger comes in a post-COVID landscape defined by a global surge in news fatigue coupled with active news avoidance. These trends have been exacerbated by changes to the algorithm of selected social media platforms to de-emphasise news by reducing its discoverability.
At the same time, the overlap between the TODAY and CNA digital audiences has also increased significantly over the past two years,” said Mediacorp Editor-in-Chief Walter Fernandez.
TODAY, which was launched in 2000 as a free newspaper, emerged in a span of six years to become the second most widely read daily newspaper in Singapore.
By 2017, it discontinued its print edition and became the country’s first news site to go fully digital. According to Mediacorp, it has since become a trusted news site that particularly resonated with the youth.
The announcement added that TODAY has won awards around the globe due to its use of short-form video on TikTok and its online seminar series on the findings of its Annual Youth Survey, as well as its coverage of financial and COVID-19 pandemic matters.
“This strategic move reflects our long-standing commitment to an audience-first approach for advertisers. We are constantly refining our offerings to ensure we have an effective range of innovative solutions.
Brands and advertisers who partner with us can look forward to meaningful and relevant media and content opportunities within our integrated portfolio,” said Chief Commercial Officer Jacqui Lim. /TISG
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