TheJournal.co.uk will be rolled into ChronicleLive to create a regional news, sport, business and entertainment platform for the region.
Audience growth has continued to rocket since the launch of Trinity Mirror’s Newsroom 3.1 model in the Newcastle newsroom last April. ChronicleLive became the fourth largest regional news website in England and the second fastest growing in the UK in the second half of last year. In June, the website reached 3m users and generated 23 million page views – around 25 times more than TheJournal.co.uk, say the publishers.
Darren Thwaites, editor-in-chief for Trinity Mirror North East, said: “The time has come to add the weight of both our daily newspaper brands to the massive scale and strength of ChronicleLive. It means we can accelerate our position as the North East’s leading regional news, sport and entertainment provider, covering more subjects across a wider geography. We’ll no longer be competing against ourselves. Instead, we’ll be bringing the biggest possible audience to all our stories using the massive search and social strength of a single supersite.”
The website will now cover an area from the Scottish border to Teesside, through Northumberland, Tyneside, Sunderland and Durham. It will also include a business channel for the first time, powered by the highly-respected Journal business team .
TheJournal.co.uk will continue to exist as an archive site but from Monday (July 13), users will be redirected to ChronicleLive.
The website merge does not affect the centre’s print publishing strategy and both The Chronicle and The Journal newspapers will continue to be published six days a week. The Journal will also upgrade its current paid-for e-edition app.
