Founded in 1944, Le Monde is the most widely read newspaper in France, earning themselves a global reputation – and a global audience. As such, international expansion became a key growth factor for the brand as they sought to better address readers beyond their borders.

The publisher began with Le Monde Afrique in 2015, creating local content and adapting their strategy to engage Africa’s francophone population. “One may think that the news is the news anywhere in the world, but that’s not the case,” says Arnaud Aubron, Le Monde’s director of development. “The way that we consume news, the way that we see and think, is really localized.”

To further broaden their audience, Le Monde decided to tackle the English-speaking world next. Beyond building out locally relevant content, however, was the challenge of translation, which is both expensive and time-consuming. So, they turned to Google News Initiative (GNI) to launch an English-language edition with the help of artificial intelligence (AI).

Now that Le Monde in English is successfully up and running, the publisher can turn their attention from product development to growth, just in time for the U.S. presidential election and the Summer Olympics in France. They hope to continue the successful marketing cross-promotion they’ve engaged in over the past two years with The New York Times, as they pursue efforts to reach new audiences.

On the editorial side, Le Monde in English Editor-in-Chief Elvire Camus hopes to translate more content into English over time, including videos, social media, and interactive features. “We have very strong newsroom teams who [produce multimedia], and we really want to extend that to our international audience,” she says.

The success of Le Monde in English has the publisher considering their global potential, with hopes to launch new editions at some point in the future. “I see Le Monde becoming a global media company, at least for the most commonly spoken languages,” says Aubron.