Punch newspaper moves to boost revenue, sets up blog site

Nigeria’s leading newspaper, The Punch, is now set to explore further into the digital space, following its recent decision to establish a blog site.

blog called whatsupnaija.com will mainly focus on soft news like entertainment, personality gists, gossips, sports and other trending news items on the internet and social media.

Analysts have said that the decision by the newspaper to veer into that sector may be a response to the shrinking revenue in the newspaper sector, which is as a result coming board of news and entrainment websites and blogs.

MARKETING EDGE gathered that in order to give the project the necessary push, The Punch recently poached the former Editor-in-Chief of Naij.com, Bamidele Olowosagba. Naij.com is one of the most followed blog site in Nigeria with over three million likes.

Sources close to the newspaper said the decision to woo Olowosagba from Naij.com was mainly because of his experience and leading role in making Naij.com, a Russian owned digital outfit, a success story.

Olowosagba, who has since resumed at The Punch, has been charged by the management of the organization to make the whatsupnaija.com one of the most successful blog site in Nigeria.

The Punch is also working hard to improve punch.com, its online version. Recently the newspaper snapped up the editor of Vanguard online, John Abayomi, which was seen as a clear attempt by the Ogun State based outfit to displace Vanguard as the number one digital newspaper in Nigeria.