I work as head of news at the news portal watson, which has been around since March 2018. In that time, watson has become the leading news brand for young adults. At watson, I lead the news desk and the desk team, which consists of our CvDs and news editors. From politics to sports and sustainability to lifestyle and entertainment, we make sure our users are always up to date.
The fast news business! That’s exactly what we do at the watson news desk. When a surprising breaking news flashes on the screen and you send it to thousands of readers on their smartphones via push message without losing even a second of time – that still gets the pulse racing, even after years in the news business. When the watson breaking news arrives first and we’ve informed our users faster than our market competitors, I’m happy every time.
It is a rare honour to raise a new general interest news portal today. This opportunity will not come around very often. Many sites have been online for 20, 25 years. It is not easy to play a weighty role as a new news brand in the highly competitive German market. The “out-of-home” infrastructure is a pound of gold that helps us a lot. Thanks to the screens, we reach people where they really are in their everyday lives – we have a head start on our market competitors.
We now reach more than eight million different users a month on watson. With more than 20 million visits, we have entered the top 20 of German news portals. The fact that even well-known politicians now approach us for an interview shows me that the public perceives watson as a strong brand. I am proud of that.
