The Mexican multimedia news organization El Financiero includes a print newspaper and television channel focusing primarily on economic and financial news, as well as a website that covers a wider range of topics. Featuring sports, politics, travel, culture, and more, the digital platform allows El Financiero to build a broader audience and deliver breaking news. “Our mission is to provide high-quality, reliable information while adapting to the evolving interests of our readers,” says Director of Internet Jardiel Palomec García.

With 10 million unique visitors to the website each month, a database of 80,000 registered users, and around 2 million downloads of their app, an effective digital strategy is integral to the organization’s ability to attract and retain readers. So when Palomec and his 16-person team noticed a drop in website traffic in 2025, they knew they needed to quickly uncover what was happening — and find a proactive solution to help prevent similar issues in the future.

The team at El Financiero found the answers they needed while participating in the Mexico News Accelerator, a Google News Initiative program run by marketing and technology consultant Monks. Palomec’s goal was to identify which content types performed best and to better understand El Financiero’s audience by improving the quality and depth of the information they collected. The program helped him optimize the team’s use of Google Analytics, making the data — and the crucial insights it yielded — more accessible, understandable, and actionable.

“Even before our first working session, the Monks team conducted an in-depth analysis of our Google Analytics data and came prepared with a clear action plan,” says Palomec. The program helped the team create a user-friendly dashboard in Looker Studio for quicker, more intuitive data visualization, as well as customized reports that enabled editorial staff to refine their content strategy. They also optimized the live video player on El Financiero’s website, driving an increase in viewership. And an integration with Google Tag Manager allowed them to configure custom events that feed into Google Analytics, unlocking strategic insights that empower the editorial, product, and data teams to make smarter decisions. “It helps us measure real user behavior beyond simple pageviews,” Palomec explains. “For example, we can now understand scroll depth or where users drop off. It’s shifted our editorial focus from pure traffic metrics to real engagement.”

By implementing the program’s learnings, El Financiero’s team aimed to halt their decline in readership. They were pleasantly surprised to find that they not only achieved that goal, but actually increased their audience by 20 percent. Additionally, Palomec notes, they now have data-driven justifications for which ideas to prioritize in their morning meetings, which saves time and ensures articles will resonate more deeply with readers.

For the team, integrating data analysis into the editorial culture means decisions are more informed. It also strengthens their commitment to providing trustworthy content that’s important to their audience. “Who is behind each data point?” asks Soft News Editor Nayeli Reyes Castro. “Google Analytics helps us connect with that person, understand what interests them, and measure the reach of each story so we can produce more relevant and personal journalism.”