Case Study: The Guardian grows 18–24 mobile users by 18% and amplifies social engagement with Brandwatch

How a modern day newsroom uses social data at its core

The Guardian, a 195‑year‑old publisher with about 130 million unique monthly browsers, aimed to be the leading source of election coverage for younger audiences during the 2015 UK general election. The challenge was to engage tech‑savvy millennials—especially students—grow mobile readership and win social share of voice in a highly competitive news environment.

Using Brandwatch Analytics to isolate student conversations and monitor social reaction in real time, The Guardian tailored mobile‑optimized editorial, liveblogs and social posts to what resonated with that demographic. The campaign increased mobile users aged 18–24 by 18%, drove a ~645% rise in online mentions over the campaign period, and achieved a dominant share of voice (links shared 31,808 times in one week—about 76% more than the BBC), substantially boosting social engagement and reach.

The Guardian

Tessa Nyman

Consumer Insights Manager