The idea for a Live Blog for India’s election results germinated in March, with a series of conversations between Entertainment News Editor Mallika Sen in New York and Deputy News Director for Photography and Storytelling Yirmiyan Arthur in India.
After a chat with the India team, the team began the groundwork, prepping posts that would include already published election stories, while planning for spot posts that would keep the blog buzzing through the day.
The long campaign and voting coverage provided a wealth of insightful content, including profiles, explainers, photos, digital videos and analysis from across India that the blog could use. Arthur coordinated with the India team who would send text, photos and video feeds for the blog on the day.
On June 4, the live blog kicked off just as votes began to be counted. Arthur worked closely with the digital team in India, with Engagement editor for Digital audiences Jayakumar Madala providing the crucial push on AP platforms in the early hours.
The rest of the digital team pitched in with their expertise and sharp attention to detail as the blog picked up pace with a steady stream of spot feeds coming from Sheikh Saaliq, David Rising, Krutika Pathi and others, while also feeding The Latest for our traditional customers.
Rich visual feeds from India’s photo team and video journalists provided voices and color from locations across the country. By the time it ended, the hugely successful Live Blog had garnered over a million views, becoming the third-most popular blog in AP history.
Beyond the metrics, the Live Blog went on to provide a stunning digital showcase of India team’s strong, creative and visually driven election coverage, tying together the standout packages in all formats.
A product of effective global collaboration across verticals and time zones, the template combining deeply reported enterprise, rich visual content and a skillfully designed digital presentation helped bring in tens of thousands of new audiences to the AP.
The blog introduced more than 750,000 new readers to apnews.com in a single day. The Live Blog pulled in tens of thousands of new digital audiences to AP Platforms, marking a massive win for audience engagement in terms of pageviews. Over 20% of the people who hit the ‘donate’ button on apnews.com on June 4 came from this live blog alone.
For conceiving and executing a Live Blog on India’s monumental election that was the third-most popular on AP ever and bringing 750,000 new readers to AP in a single day, the team of Sen, Arthur, Saaliq, Pathi, Rising and Madala are Best of AP — First Winner.
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