On Monday, IBT Media announced the website redesign of Newsweek International and International Business Times, a continuation of its global rebranding. According to the announcement, the new design focuses on speed, legibility and user experience, as well as “championing the premium content” produced by its London-based editorial teams.

Newsweek: The redesign for Newsweek Europe features larger headlines and image sizes with stories that are easier to read and which load faster. The site’s home page offers more articles, and includes the magazine’s weekly cover image and more room for “integrated sponsorships.” The newly designed site also includes sticky navigation bars to improve the user experience and to make it easier for readers to share stories via social media.

“The clear, clean look of the redesign is great for readers and really makes the most of Newsweek’s superb images and graphics,” said Matt McAllester, Newsweek Europe Editor. “By integrating advertising better we’ve improved the user experience online, and our newly expanded newsroom is very excited about the possibilities offered by the new storytelling tools.”

International Business Times: The new site features an “elegant redesign and functionality,” said Newsweek in the announcement. Optimized for mobile and video, the article pages are longer, more like a magazine format, for feature stories, and a cleaner, simpler look for breaking news. Like Newsweek, navigation and social sharing on the International Business Times site are easier.

In the announcement, Jeremy Makin, vice president of sales for IBT Media in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said the new sites put an emphasis on ad effectiveness and viewability to blend advertising “harmoniously” with editorial content. He also commented on the overall purpose for the changes.

“With programmatic revenues up 85% year on year, a staggering 200 million unique users on IBT.co.uk during 2015 – this is the right time to invest in an industry leading online presence for our two flagship brands,” said Makin. “We will continue to further develop our mix of solutions for advertisers, whether it be programmatic and direct, display or native content.”

In addition to these changes, the International Business Times is part of Google’s AMP program to improve mobile load times. Because mobile represents almost 50% of International Business Times’ traffic, it will be a big focus for the company in 2016.

Insider Take:

Newsweek and International Business Times operate from two different business models: Newsweek is supported by subscriptions and advertising, while International Business Times is supported solely by ads. Because there are two different business models, it is interesting to see that the changes to the two sites are somewhat universal.

We find the dramatic and speedy changes to be more than just improving the user experience. IBT Media needed to make the changes to speak to advertisers’ universal concerns about ad viewability and to optimize the sites for all platforms.

Publishers and other subscription companies who haven’t redesigned their sites will be left behind because readers have many choices about where to get their content. Companies must optimize their sites to satisfy readers and advertisers while utilizing SEO best practices and staying on top of current trends like mobile usage and ad-blocking.

Companies like IBT Media who invest in SEO and other market changes now will be able to sustain and possibly grow their businesses. Those who ignore the trends or who make changes late in the game may not survive.