To channel the spirit of a social interface, The Verge introduced its news feed feature. It also unveiled Storystream, a hybrid product that combines live blog and article formats to cover events that unfold over days or weeks, such as a trial. On average, readers spend four minutes longer on these “slow blogs” than traditional articles, said Havlak.

The new interface also led to an uptick in the clickthrough rate for content on the homepage, which has risen 25% on desktop and 48% on mobile, according to Havlak. 

Comments, too, which the new site has made more prominent, have increased in volume—total comments are up 90%, while comment rate is up 248%. The Verge views commenting as a proxy for engagement, although Carver is reluctant to do so.

Early success from more native ads

The facelift has also opened up opportunities for new ad products, according to Patel, though the publisher declined to provide specific revenue figures or performance metrics.

One, called Quick Posts, acts as a native ad that the publisher can use to promote in-house products like newsletters or product review guides.

In September, the publisher unveiled a proprietary ad product that appears in the news feed. The seamless fit and familiar user experience of the feature aims to increase ad performance, although the publisher said it was too soon to share success metrics.

The news feed product also uses the same dimensions as social creative, which could make it an easier buy for advertisers, said Paul DeJarnatt, vp and head of digital at Novus Media. 

“A redesign on its own doesn’t convince me to buy media from a website. We make decisions based on data,” DeJarnatt said. “But if the redesign encourages the reader to engage more with ads, then maybe.”