The Standard newspaper was established in 1902 and has grown to become one of the largest and the oldest newspaper in Africa.
The journey has been successful due to Standard Group’s constant response to reader needs which has been achieved through continuous innovation in the media industry while maintaining boldness in its reporting.
This trend entails the re-engineering of the newspaper to accelerate its digital transformation. This is in line with the company's values of innovation and agility in the mobile publishing landscape to increase mobile readership which has gained traction in the market.
"Online media consumption has shown tremendous growth over the past few years with mobile devices taking over as the preferred channels of consuming online news as opposed to other digital devices," says Roseline Abuto, the head of marketing at Standard Group.
This trend has seen many media houses globally change and adopt new ways of disseminating news. Kenya too has followed suit.
This has reduced the world a global village where information is shared instantly across the world due to digitalisation of news. This transformation has, therefore, forced many media organisations to refocus their attention to digital formats by providing unique, quality and engaging content to consumers anytime and anywhere.
The Standard Group has tapped into WhatsApp to ensure that its e-paper can be accessed by anyone, anytime, anywhere through a chatbot service.
The Whatsapp chatbot service seeks to reassure readers they can now easily and conveniently access their trusted source of information on their mobile devices.
For only Sh20, you can now get your Standard e-newspaper by sending the word NEWS on your Whatsapp to 0700222213. This service has been activated for M-Pesa users only through STK Push or Lipa na M-Pesa Paybill.
Once you subscribe to the e-paper through Whatsapp, you will only be able to access it in a reader's library section on the Standard e-paper's platform.
To access the service faster and easily, you only need to send the word 'News' daily on your WhatsApp to 0700222213.
The paper will then be rendered purely online without having to download it hence saving your data and hassle of the long route of inputting a URL.
The Standard Group ensures its readers that even with the uncertainty caused by Covid-19, there is minimal transmission through contact because they can still access their trusted source of information digitally — through h the e-paper
This service is managed by Standard Group's authorized partner, Belva Digital.
