OVB24.de: No more chaos, just high reader participation & return visits with Contribly newsroom tools
OVB24.de, a network of local digital news sites in South-East Bavaria, wanted readers to engage easily and more meaningfully…without adding manual work for journalists. Traditional comments, email submissions, and social platforms created friction and limited depth.
By using Contribly’s on-page call-outs, OVB24 enabled readers to see themselves, and each other, directly in the news, driving repeat visits, stronger community engagement, more first-party audience data and measurable growth.
Problem: OVB24 struggled to collect reader contributions at scale without relying on social platforms or inboxes.
Solution: Contribly newsroom tools enabled on-site photo call-outs, moderation, and publishing in one workflow.
Outcome: Higher engagement, repeat visits, and thousands of reader contributions published directly on OVB24.de.
Topline numbers:
Return visits, high page-views & high-value engagement, here are the topline numbers:
480+ reader photo submissions in their first ever call-out
Time spent reduced by 233% (from 7 hours editorial time to 30 minutes to create, moderate and publish them all)
17,000 page views in 5 days,
36,000 likes
20% newsletter opt-in rate
Why this matters for newsrooms
As social platforms become less reliable for distribution and engagement, publishers need sustainable ways to involve readers directly on their own sites. This case study shows how on-site participation can increase engagement while strengthening trust and editorial control.
Who is OBV24.de:
OVB24.de operates several regional digital news platforms across Bavaria including news portals such as rosenheim24.de , innsalzach24.de , chiemgau24.de , bgland24.de , wasserburg24.de and mangfall24.de. These are among the leading regional news portals in Germany with over 13 million visits and more than 50 million page views per month. Their coverage focuses on deeply local reporting: politics, culture, crime, accidents, and community life…serving readers who care about what’s happening where they live.
Like many local publishers, OVB24 already knew that community-focused content performs best. Local journalism engagement increases when the stories invite the readers in. Photo galleries from events or parties, for example, consistently attracted attention because readers wanted to recognise themselves and people they know.
But turning that instinct into a repeatable engagement strategy is difficult.
The challenge
Before Contribly, reader interaction relied on:
Email submissions (photos sent as attachments)
Classic comment sections
Social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram)
Each came with limitations:
Email workflows were slow and manual: downloading files, checking names, re-uploading content.
Comments were often “very short and not really deep.”
Social platforms pulled engagement away from OVB24’s own site.
Readers faced friction: writing emails, attaching files, or logging into accounts.
As Markus put it:
“It’s not that easy to get the responses we want… and when we don’t do this, there is just the classic news and they don’t come back.”
Strategically, OVB24 want more than one-off interactions. Their goal was to build habits, to encourage readers to return multiple times a day, not just once.
To do that, on-site engagement needed to be:
easy for readers to contribute within seconds, not minutes, removing the barrier to entry,
visible on the article itself without too much work from journalists,
and manageable for a busy newsroom.
Why engagement matters: “Readers want to see each other”
A key insight from OVB24’s experience is that engagement is not just about metrics, it’s about recognition and belonging.
Markus explained that readers engage most when:
they can see themselves in the content,
they can see other people like them, and
there is something happening now, not just static news.
“They want to see others… what have they done…,there are other people with dogs or mushrooms and where did they find them.”
This mirrors the behaviour people expect from social platforms, but OVB24 wants that experience on their own site, in a trusted local-news environment.
How Contribly addressed the challenge
1. Making participation effortless for readers
Contribly allowed OVB24 to embed call-outs directly inside articles. Reader call-outs are prompts that invite audiences to share photos, opinions, or experiences directly with the newsroom. Readers could:
upload photos,
see other submissions immediately,
like and react to each other’s content,
and return to the article to follow what was happening.
No email. No downloads. No leaving the site.
“With Contribly… it’s very easy… they upload their photos and they come back.”
2. Removing newsroom friction
Previously, collecting photos meant:
receiving emails,
downloading attachments,
checking names and permissions,
manually uploading content to the CMS.
With Contribly, Markus Zwigl -Journalist at OVB24.de, described a fundamentally different workflow:
“I only have to check if this photo or this comment is good… we click OK and it’s automatically on the article.”
The result wasn’t faster article creation, it was less work after publishing, when engagement typically becomes a burden.
“After that it’s running automatically… I’ve got much more time for other articles.”
This was especially valuable outside normal working hours:
“On the weekend… with Contribly I have only to say okay, it’s correct, and it’s on the article.”
“Contribly makes it incredibly easy for readers to see themselves in our journalism... and for us to manage that engagement without extra work.”
3. Turning deep engagement into return visits
The most powerful shift came from what happened after readers contributed.
In the dog photo call-out:
readers uploaded photos,
returned to see if others liked them,
browsed other submissions,
and reacted repeatedly over several days.
“They come back… they want to see the others.”
The five most popular photos received 2,000+ likes each, showing that readers weren’t just submitting, they were actively participating. And, over 82% of the uploads were liked or shared.
4. Converting engagement into first-party data and value
OVB24 also used Contribly’s newsletter opt-in during call-outs.
The result surprised the newsroom:
“20% of readers want to get in the newsletter… this is very high.”
For a local publisher, this matters deeply:
“When we try to get readers for our newsletter, that is really hard work.”
Contribly turned a moment of participation into a long-term relationship.
5. Unlocking new stories
Beyond metrics, Contribly surfaced human stories that would otherwise remain invisible.
One example came from a dog photo submission:
“A woman told us… she got ill and the dog helped her… to come back to life.”
This opened the door to deeper reporting: mental health, recovery, companionship - directly sourced from the community.
“There is a story behind it… you can get new ideas and new stories.”
“I was really surprised from the first moment… we received a lot of photos! After publishing, it runs automatically, I have much more time.
It makes us more friendly, more open… not only hard news. It’s a really good way to make your platform better and help readers connect with each other.”
The results
Immediate impact
480+ reader photos submitted to a single call-out
17,000 pageviews in 5 days across OVB24 platforms
36,000 likes across submissions
83% of photos received liked, driving repeat visits
20% newsletter opt-in rate from contributors
Medium-term value
Increased repeat visits as readers returned to follow the conversation
Higher time spent on page driven by browsing and reacting to UGC
Engagement owned and hosted on OVB24, not on third-party platforms
Long-term strategic benefit
Stronger emotional connection between readers and the brand
A scalable engagement format that doesn’t overload journalists
A steady pipeline of local stories sourced directly from the community
OVB24’s experience shows that engagement isn’t about asking readers to “comment more.” It’s about making participation visible, social, and worth returning for, directly on your site.
Don’t just take our word for it, listen to Markus share his experience:
Contribly helped OVB24 turn simple photo call-outs into highly engaging experiences that saved time, strengthened loyalty, and unlocked real community stories.
If your newsroom wants to:
keep engagement on your own platform,
reduce manual UGC workflows,
and help readers see themselves — and each other — in your journalism,
Contribly can help.
Talk to us about launching your first call-out.