Sinar Harian participated in the Google News Initiative (GNI) Data and Insights Launchpad (DIL) program, delivered through a partnership between Google and FT Strategies. DIL is a three-month long program aimed at addressing and accelerating publishers’ data and insights capabilities, from reader discovery to subscription strategy.

Through the program, the Sinar Harian team recognized the opportunities to expand its first-party data collection and define organizational-wide goals that would support the role of data within the organization.

Since the Data & Insights Launchpad Southeast Asia program, the Sinar Harian team have developed a very impressive internal ‘training plan’ for its teams across the newsroom - as well as a series of initiatives created to drive the involvement of data in their day-to-day activities. The upskilling action plan includes an introduction to the main data tools, and the performance of journalist’s’ articles. There is also a physical ‘super-desk’ that will help enhance data usage and awareness in the newsroom everyday. Other data and insights initiatives included a re-design of a newsletter based on reader feedback, collecting more audience data in both volume and dimension - and a deeper internal assessment that will analyze the current audience’s journey.

The delivery of the training is planned to be done by colleagues within the editorial teams, which acts as a catalyst for further connection between different teams in the organization.