Sanoma audio experience brings news to the ears of a new generation

In recent years, the media landscape has shifted significantly, with audiences increasingly turning to audio for a convenient, hands-free experience. The rise of podcasts, audiobooks and other on-demand content has positioned audio as a competitive media format.

For Sanoma, a leading media company in the Nordics, this shift has highlighted the need to adapt. Developing a robust and engaging audio feature across Sanoma’s digital news platforms is a strategic step toward meeting modern user needs.

Qvik’s team of business designers and product designers helped Sanoma solidify its audio concept and design the audio experience and visuals – now live at Helsingin Sanomat.

Sanoma had already experimented with audio on different platforms. To fully invest in it, they needed a clear strategy and consistency. The audio experience had to be smart and seamless to work for multiple media brands – while being commercially viable.

Sanoma partnered with Qvik because of our expertise in both digital consumer service creation and audio experiences. The team implemented:

– A business design phase to ensure a strong strategic foundation

– Extensive research and interviews to understand listener habits and needs

– UX/UI and service design to create the seamless audio experience

"Working for a media house has always been my dream. Getting to fulfil that, learn new things and challenge myself was very rewarding."

Miia Karjalainen, Design Lead and Senior Product Designer, Qvik

One of the key insights from our research was that Helsingin Sanomat, Sanoma’s flagship newspaper, struggled to attract readers under 40. The new audio feature became an opportunity to engage a younger audience, while also providing additional value to existing readers.

"It was exciting to be part of creating a feature that would take Sanoma into a new direction in content distribution."

Toni Itkonen, Senior Product Designer & Design Lead, Qvik

Sanoma’s news editors were engaged in co-creation workshops amidst the business design phase to ensure that the audio experience would serve all audiences in the best possible way.

Carefully taking time to define the vision, strategy, and user needs before moving into design and development ended up being very valuable. With clear specifications, it was easy to hit the ground running.

The result of Sanoma and Qvik’s collaboration was a fully integrated, freshly designed audio experience within the Helsingin Sanomat app and website, with expansion to other Sanoma brands awaiting.

“It was exciting to get to shape an experience that I, an avid Helsingin Sanomat reader, will now personally use every day.”

Katariina Helin, Senior Business Designer, Qvik

The new experience has been very well received by users, and already earned its spot as one of the five main navigation tabs of the HS news app. It allows users to:

– Listen to curated news summaries, making it easy to stay informed on the go

– Access podcasts and other audio content anywhere in the app, including the front page, in addition to the audio tab where all audio features are collected

– Resume listening from where they left off

– Create listening queues and receive content recommendations

"The collaboration with Qvik went smoothly. I most enjoyed the vast amount of different types of high-quality design work and design thinking done for us. This made it possible for us to make it all happen while maintaining focus on the big picture."

Justus Reinikainen, Product Manager, News and Feature Media, Sanoma Media Finland

Sanoma has been very happy with the outcomes of the seamless collaboration. The overall success of the audio experience highlights the importance of a strategic approach to digital product development.

One of the most inspiring aspects for the team was seeing their work directly impact how people consume news. The collaboration continues!