Audit
News app measurement audit
A three-week reconstruction of how a news or media app is actually read, written up for the editor who runs morning conference.
This is the piece of work most newsrooms ask for first. It is for editors, heads of digital, and the one person who currently dumps numbers into a Monday email. It is not for teams that have not yet launched an app, and it is not a rewrite of the product.
Who it is for
A Malaysian or regional title that already has readers inside an iOS or Android app — often with an English edition, a Bahasa Malaysia edition, or both. Typical clients are dailies, weekenders, and specialist media whose print muscle-memory is still stronger than their app habits. If the morning conference still treats the app as a leftover of the website, this audit has a job to do.
The result
You receive a written briefing, in English, that a news editor can bring to conference. It names which counts are safe to quote, which ones double-count refreshes or bots, and which story, push, paywall, and homepage decisions actually moved readers in the sample week. The result is a shared vocabulary for the next fortnight of story placement — not a new set of charts that nobody opens.
Scope
One app, or one app with two language editions under the same masthead. We reconstruct one recent week that includes at least one weekday news cycle and one weekend. We look at story opens and completions, push receipts and opens, paywall stops, and the homepage modules that sat above the lead. We do not audit the website, the print run, or a second brand in the same group unless that is contracted separately.
Included
- Opening conversations with the editor who runs conference and the person who currently pulls the numbers
- An inventory of the events the app already records
- Reconstruction of the sample week in language the newsroom already uses (story, section, edition, alert, meter)
- A written briefing of roughly eight to twelve pages
- One walkthrough, on a video call or in the Johor Bahru office, to argue the findings before they go to the wider desk
Excluded
We do not install tracking, rewrite screens, buy advertising, or hire staff. We do not promise a lift in subscribers. If the app’s event log is empty or the title has not shipped to readers, we will say so and stop before week two.
Who does the work
Toolkitgarden’s Johor Bahru desk. Aisyah Rahman leads the editorial reading of the week; Lim Wei Jie checks the event inventory against what the app can actually count. Priya Nair joins when the paywall or the language split is the main bruise.
How the three weeks run
Week one is access and a calm inventory: logins or a shared screen, two weeks of exports if they exist, names of who speaks in conference. Week two is the reconstruction — we read the week as a newsroom would, story by story, alert by alert. Week three is the briefing and the walkthrough. The method page sets this out in order.
Place and preparation
The desk is in Johor Bahru. Most of the reading happens remotely. A half-day visit is offered when the newsroom is in Johor, Melaka, or the Klang Valley. Before we start we need: a staff-level look at the app, whatever export the current numbers person can produce, and a named editor who will take the briefing.
Constraints
We will not begin until the app has real readers. A week with a public holiday that emptied the news cycle may be swapped for the week before. If legal or union rules block us from seeing certain staff-only screens, we work from what the newsroom is allowed to show and we write that limit into the briefing.
Price and next step
Fees start at RM 8,400 for a single-edition app with a usable event log. Two language editions, a messy meter, or a visit outside Johor change the figure. There is no monthly seat. To ask for dates, write to the desk with the masthead, the app name, and the question morning conference keeps repeating.