Meeting young audiences where they are is a start; turning attention into habits and regular use of our app and site is the goal.

At Expressen, a leading Swedish news company, we’ve focused on growing younger audiences in recent years with strong results. Still, under-30s remain the largest group that doesn’t visit us regularly.

In 2024, we took the next step to build stronger relationships and make our news part of more under-30s’ everyday routines.

A new strategic framework

We concluded that a bigger change required fresh insight, deeper analysis, and a more coherent strategy. We launched a cross-functional programme to lead extensive audience research to identify gaps, prioritise opportunities, and map practical initiatives.

When we asked young Swedes, “Why don’t you have a news app?”, a common answer was: “I just never thought about it.” Many told us they like our journalism and want to stay informed, but haven’t chosen a preferred news brand.

We already reach many of them: Brand awareness is strong, and we have 110 million+ social video views each month. Our task is to turn reach into loyalty by clarifying value and reducing friction — with the right content, formats, features, and offers — so young users stay longer and come back more often to our app and site 

The insights shaped a strategic framework: Attract → Engage → Retain — with the app at the centre.

From insights to action

Here are some of the initiatives we prioritised first:

• Lower the barrier to entry. Free, app-only offers for 18-25 to drive downloads and habits.
• Narrow the age focus. The “under-30s” cohort was too broad, with very different needs, so we narrowed our primary focus.
• Evolve on social media. Highlight young perspectives in new ways. Make live coverage interactive.
• Balance the mix. Provide even more journalism for and about younger people.
• New in video. Expand the use of vertical with a social style experience on our app and site.
• Better measurement. Clear goals and behaviour tracking by age on and off the platform to guide decisions.
• Keep young voices in the room. Internal forums that give younger colleagues a standing role in agenda-setting and next steps.

We have a freemium model — much open news, deeper coverage locked — and heard that paywalls often blocked habit-building; many liked our journalism but weren't ready to pay. We believed building early loyalty could lead to later payments.

So we rethought access: from one-size-fits-all to age-specific, app-only free periods designed to create habits first. Users 18-24 get free access in the app; 25-34 get a longer free period before an ongoing subscription.

By actively tracking this cohort and iterating, frequency and engagement have risen after activation.

We had for years reported with live video, but mainly site-first — studio segments, horizontal formats, and older-skewing expert panels. Over the past year, we adapted to meet young audiences where they are: social feeds, vertical format, and direct interaction.

On U.S. election night, we ran social-first, vertical livestreams with reporters on the ground, prompts for questions in comments, and real-time answers on air. The same playbook worked in breaking news — for example, our correspondent’s live reports from Israel’s ground operation in Lebanon combined on-scene context with direct audience engagement.

Results so far and what’s next

We’ve seen strong early results:

• Added 20,000 free 18-25 app subscribers in a few months (without cannibalising paying subscriptions).
• 30% growth in pageviews from young audiences on site and in app over the past year.
• Social followers increased by 175,000.
• Social video views now exceed 110 million per month.

This isn’t a finish line; the value lies in an ongoing plan and a newsroom that continually experiments.

We’ve established an internal process to maintain momentum and work through prioritised initiatives across teams. We’ve learned a lot and continue to launch new ideas.

We don’t have all the answers. We have working hypotheses, promising clues, and a team eager to test them. We’ll keep meeting young people where they are — and turning attention into habits and regular use of our app and site.

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