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BurdaForward

BurdaForward app offers refreshing approach to news fatigue

German media group provides critical information while limiting harmful triggers.

Recognizing the burden of the news cycle

As journalists for leading German media company BurdaForward, Linda Hinz and Vivica Wilkens noticed an alarming trend in the early days of the pandemic. “Our friends and family were telling us they couldn’t even look at the news,” Hinz reveals. “What were we doing wrong as journalists that these people couldn’t bear it anymore?”

“People not informing themselves and staying within their bubble isn’t good for a democratic society,” Wilkens adds. “But if they feel too burdened by negative news, they start to simply avoid it.”

Hinz and Wilkens, therefore, made it their mission to tackle news fatigue and avoidance, launching a startup within BurdaForward called News to be Good. They began rigorous research in 2020, speaking with readers about their pain points and psychologists about the mechanisms behind news avoidance.

  • 80,000 app downloads
  • 90% of active users highly satisfied after four weeks
  • 84% of users strongly agreed app keeps them informed

Creating a safe environment for news avoiders

Ultimately, Hinz and Wilkens decided that an app would allow them to best reach their audience of news avoiders. “We wanted to provide a safe environment that makes readers feel positive and not overwhelmed, and that works best in an app,” Wilkens explains. An app environment is more easily controlled and more feature rich. Wilkens shares, “You can also connect to users even better, and have more loyalty within an app, than just a page.”

BurdaForward partnered with the Google News Initiative (GNI) in 2023 to launch the News to be Good app. “It was really important to focus on improving tech, and working with GNI made tech part of the framework,” Hinz explains. “GNI helped push us to try out new things and take steps we otherwise might have left to a later stage.”

Hinz uses Good Challenges as an example of a feature influenced by GNI. Integrated into the app, Good Challenges prompted app users to make small but meaningful changes — such as getting rid of digital garbage — to combat a feeling of powerlessness among readers. Those who completed the challenges were then rewarded with digital coins that they could donate to BurdaForward’s NGO partners, like UNICEF.

To further tackle news fatigue, the app provided a succinct news overview that presented critical information in a non-alarmist, constructive way. News to be Good did away with the endless feed of many news sites, fit news stories on a single screen, and avoided sensationalized headlines. “We really tried to give our users the feeling of being in control,” Hinz says.

Google News Initiative — News Ideas

News publishers are innovating to find new ways to engage their audiences. From digital distribution and subscriptions to real-time analytics and AI, to giving readers a voice, they are using technology to reimagine news — with a focus on growing revenues and sophisticated/strong journalism. Their insights might inspire your own next big idea in the news.

About Burdaforward

BurdaForward GmbH is the digital publisher of Hubert Burda Media, which was founded in 1903 as a small printing house. The company reaches 41 million readers across consumer media, while other divisions specialize in magazines, broadcasting, B2B media and services, and e-commerce.

N2BG_Vivica und Linda_N2BG
“GNI helped us to think everything through and really make a plan for the weeks and months to come.”
Linda Hinz
Co-founder of News to be Good, BurdaForward
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