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Evening Edition looks good but has an audience problem

The ever excellent Nieman Journalism Lab ran a low key piece on Evening Edition earlier this week, noting its moderate subscriber numbers and the appointment of a new editor–in–chief.

I wrote a short review a year back which holds true today. Evening Edition does have a lot going for it: A smart, flexible design, some big names behind the scenes and a novel idea. No wonder its launch created such a buzz.

But I picked up on a couple of problems. Firstly, you can still go to the BBC or The Guardian front pages for an objective summary of the day’s important news.

The second problem is more fundamental. To put it bluntly: Evening Edition is boring. It has no distinctive voice or angle.

After a few weeks, I unsubscribed from the daily email and forgot all about the service until the Nieman article.

All this because Evening Edition has created the wrong audience. Take a look at its meta description:

The perfect commute–sized way to catch up on the day’s news after a long day at work.

Now, are you this poor office worker? Are you too tired to read proper news on the journey home? Do you need Evening Edition to guide you through all that complicated stuff, like a nice, patient uncle?

Who wants to be identified as a knackered office worker who needs things simplified for them?