[JUDGING] Mediahuis
Section: Best Multiplatform Campaign - Paid
Organisation Name: Mediahuis
Campaign Questions
Name Of Brand Client
Crime World
Campaign Name
Crime World - Get Into Crime
Personpeople Who Led This Campaign
Havas Dublin
Do You Use Alt Text In Your Images And Caption Your Videos
Yes
What Objective For Campaign
Since 1973, Sunday World has been Ireland’s most recognisable red-top. By 2026, the challenge was not just defending legacy; it was transforming it into a premium product audiences would pay for. Data revealed the opportunity: crime content consistently drove the highest engagement, and the Crime World podcast, fronted by Nicola Tallant, was already reaching 1.6 million monthly plays without significant paid support.
With this insight, Sunday World was reimagined as CrimeWorld.com, Ireland’s first premium, subscription-led true crime destination. The audience existed; the challenge was how to reach, convert, and expand it beyond existing readers.
The answer was a disruptive, multi-channel campaign built on a single bold platform: “Get Into Crime.” Seven channels - linear TV, BVOD, OLV, cinema, outdoor, digital audio, and social - were amplified to move audiences from awareness to subscription. Creative was channel-first, designed to maximise engagement rather than repurposed from a single asset, ensuring each touchpoint delivered impact.
The results were extraordinary. A full-year subscription target of 2,500 was surpassed within Q1, and Crime World now delivers the highest average revenue per user across Mediahuis Ireland. In a single campaign, a 50-year-old tabloid became a subscription powerhouse, turning legacy into revenue, relevance, and cultural impact.
Outline Your Strategy For This Campaign
Crime doesn't end with the headline. Audiences increasingly want to understand the motives, investigations, criminal networks and consequences behind the story.
This insight inspired our strategic decision to launch with a cultural provocation, not a product message. "Get Into Crime" was designed to do something subscription advertising rarely achieves and make people stop, feel something, and want to know more.
"Get Into Crime" is an exciting, edgy proposition for readers. It acknowledged their curiosity in crimes. The line also established the singular focus and strength of platform clearly, as using the word “Crime” without the addition of a word like “News” or “Journalism” speaks to the depth of our content and reporting.
This was not merely another campaign, it was the launch of Crime World as a standalone multi-channel news brand that evolved from a successful podcast into a new destination across website, app, podcasts and social media. We wanted to become the unrivalled destination for the crime curious, providing broader perspective and the real stories behind the headlines. This objective required a significant launch beyond what we had done before.
Channel strategy followed audience segmentation directly. Digital audio and podcast placements converted the existing engaged audience and Social drove conversation and click-through to the subscription platform.
What Were The Outcomes For This Campaign Metrics Next Question
Commercial outcomes confirmed the strategic thesis. Crime World now delivers the highest average revenue per user across the entire Mediahuis Ireland portfolio. The subscribers acquired were not just numerous, they were highly valuable. A legacy tabloid, transformed into a premium subscription brand, now outperforms every other title in the group on ARPU, showing structural, long-term transformation rather than a temporary spike.
The channel mix delivered on both objectives. Broadcast and outdoor built mass awareness, establishing Crime World as a culturally visible destination. Digital audio and social converted existing engaged audiences, with podcast placements driving strong subscription click-through among listeners already invested in the editorial product.
The campaign also performed particularly strongly among the younger cohort of audiences, Dubliners and tabloid readers which ideally aligned with the audiences we were targeting to grow.
This campaign delivered impact beyond proxy metrics but into real business results such as 42% said the campaign gave them a fresh perspective on Crime World, while 41% said it made them more likely to read and 31% more likely to subscribe. Not only this but both TV executions alone outperformed previous Sunday World campaigns.
What Are Your Metrics For This Campaign Real Metrics Please
The campaign’s most striking achievement was speed to impact. A full-year subscription target of 2,500 was surpassed within Q1 2026 - before the majority of planned activity had even run. This wasn’t a simple overperformance against a conservative goal; it demonstrated genuine product-market fit, unlocked by creative that reached the right audiences, through the right channels, at the right moment.
Regarding downloads alone, we saw a +271.9% increase from launch which was a remarkable result and testament to the podcasts impact & launch overall.
The success also extended beyond subscriber growth. Since launch, Crime World has generated 31.4 million article pageviews across 7,683 pieces of content, including 2.9 million subscriber pageviews and more than 1.9 million subscriber attention minutes. Daily average subscriber attention minutes increased by 133.7% between launch and June 2026, demonstrating that audiences were not simply discovering the platform, but returning regularly and engaging more deeply over time. Push notification traffic also grew more than 13 fold during the same period, further establishing the creation of a loyal and engaged audience around the brand.
Is There Anything Else You Want To Add Be Brief
Campaign Assets - https://havas-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/sean_carolan_globalservs_com/IgCu0U9MaKy4R759fRPyAAmqAUK9EvDlmP69HAU1IrmvEG8?e=tc49vo
