• by Melynda Fuller , December 3, 2019

Kalmbach Media continues to expand the reach of its Discover brand, this time with a redesigned website and paywall.

The new website and paywall were unveiled yesterday, with a sleek design and faster load time for stories.

“As a brand, Discover aims to deliver relevant and engaging science content in an approachable manner. We believe science can and should be for everyone,” Angela Cotey, Kalmbach’s director of digital strategy, told Publishers Daily. “It was important to us that those qualities were reflected in the new website. An enhanced user experience was a top priority and resulted in a cleaner, more modern, easier-to-navigate site.”

The new design features content categories displayed in a more intuitive way; cleaned up headers and navigation allows users to easily select a category without being encumbered by lengthy drop downs.

Cotey says the brand’s mobile experience has dramatically improved with the redesign, as well.

Discover has also created new avenues for revenue and advertising opportunities into the site.

According to Cotey, ad zones have been programmed with greater flexibility, allowing for expandable ad units. Advertisers can also sponsor a particular content category.

Under the new design, Discover is able to create highly visible content hubs for special events or special reports, she adds. Sponsorship opportunities are available across these hubs, allowing for greater advertiser visibility.

Prior to the website redesign, Discover kept a portion of its content behind a subscriber wall. However, all Discover content is now open through a new metered paywall that allows nonsubscribers to read up to three articles a month.

“This allows us to showcase our great science journalism in a more approachable manner for all website visitors, while increasing opportunities for conversion,” said Cotey. “We believe the metered paywall will increase new email signups, as well as paid subscriptions.” 

The news of the website’s redesign and paywall comes as fellow science brand Astronomy prepares to ship the first edition of its new Space & Beyond Box. Each box will include five or more high-quality items that include products exclusive to subscribers. Cotey said the box “is on track to exceed our launch revenue projections.”

The new subscription box joins a successful subscription launch from Kalmbach Media brand Bead & Button last year.

Kalmbach’s Science Group, which includes Astronomy and Discover, now reaches more than 10 million people, per the company. It reports revenue growth of over 300% across its MyScienceShop.com ecommerce site, since its launch in 2015. The science storefront has released more than 500 new products.