Kent Online Launch New Online Feature

Kent Online have introduced a new audio feature to their news stories, extending the offering of their online portfolio.

The new feature allows readers to listen to all stories on the Kent Online website. Iliffe Media revealed the feature would be introduced to the rest of their websites in due course.

Speaking to HoldtheFrontPage, Ian Carter, editorial director at Iliffe Media, said the feature had “been received very well”. He said:

“What we need to do now is closely monitor how our readers are using it – we have some targets in mind for the percentage of people we expect to adopt it.

“It’s obviously a good way to increase dwell time across the site too. It launched on Kent Online and will expand across the rest of Iliffe shortly.

“Using an automated voice is never going to be 100pc perfect – our newsreaders won’t be getting replaced by robots any time soon – but this software comes pretty close.”