NZ Herald, Washington Post team up for new digital tools, website

Washington Post owner and Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos. Picture / AP.

NZME, publisher of The New Zealand Herald and this website, has partnered with the Washington Post to license Arc, the US media company's state-of-the-art digital publishing platform.

The deal with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' Post will see the redesign and relaunch of nzherald.co.nz in the first quarter of this year, along with NZME's five regional mastheads.

Implementation of Arc over the coming months will be a significant step in NZME's aim to stay at the forefront of publishing technology, said CEO Michael Boggs.

"Our relationship with our audiences and advertisers is core to our business success. Delivering content and premium advertising opportunities to them every day is vital and the Arc Publishing suite will enable this to continue to happen.

"The impact the Post has seen globally over the last 12 months has been phenomenal and we see great things coming from this partnership."

NZME managing Editor Shayne Currie said Arc would accelerate the Herald's growing audience reach.

"Arc is both a state-of-the-art publishing platform and a sophisticated collection of tools for journalists to create, enrich, optimise and analyse the performance of their content," he said. "It will give us huge flexibility."

NZME managing editor Shayne Currie. Photo / Marty Melvill.

Built by engineers and designers at The Washington Post, Arc is made up of sophisticated tools that work seamlessly together and can function individually. These include website management, video, mobile web and apps, syndication to distributed platforms, automatic content testing, data mining and innovative monetisation tools.

Arc is the mission-critical platform behind the websites and newsrooms of leading media companies around the world, including Toronto's Globe and Mail, Argentina's Infobae and the Alaska Dispatch News.

Chief Information Officer of The Washington Post Shailesh Prakash. Picture / supplied.

"Arc's footprint continues to rapidly expand, demonstrating the technology's capability to adapt to customers in diverse geographies and its ability to serve publishers of any size," said Shailesh Prakash, Chief Information Officer of The Washington Post.

"We're investing significantly in Arc to ensure we have a software-as-service (SaaS) platform that is top of mind for publishers planning for long-term digital growth and innovation. We look forward to working with NZME as they transform their digital business."