Opera to launch news and content app with dedicated AI-engine

Opera, the developer of Opera Mini and Opera browsers, announced today that the number of monthly active users (MAUs) of its newsreader service has crossed the 100 million mark as of November 2017. It is quite intriguing to see the numbers increase from 2 million to 100 million in less than a year.

"News is not dead, you just have to provide people with the content they want without making them work too hard for it," said Jan Standal, VP Product Marketing and Communication. Why is news reading growing exponentially among the Opera mobile browser users? So, Opera team has developed its own artificial intelligence (AI) engine to provide the users with relevant content in a smart way.

The AI system studies users' news-reading behavior in real time and learns from it in order to provide them with a personalized news offer. This means people get faster and easier access to news and videos that interest them.

The news and video service has witnessed a 50-fold growth since its introduction in the Opera Mini browser in January 2017. Usage data from November shows that the average user now spends 40 minutes every day inside the Opera browser and engages with between 65 and 81 news stories per day. Well, the number speaks for themselves.

This is also good news for publishers: Opera's AI technology increases exposure of their articles by delivering them to relevant people who are thus more likely to comment and share. In 2017, Opera has partnered with over 800 websites and publishers.

"People using their mobile phones want to consume content in a faster and easier way," continues Jan Standal. "The AI engine is designed to instantly provide personalized and localized content, right at their fingertips. We are thrilled to see such rapid growth both in terms of users and actual usage of the service."

Additionally, Opera is planning to soon launch a dedicated news and content app, codenamed Opera Habari, offering users news and videos relevant to them. Opera Habari will use the same AI-engine that is used by the Opera browsers.

"Building on the success of Opera Mini, we will continue developing our AI-service to make it one of the leading content discovery platforms in the world. We are looking forward to releasing the new app in the near future," he added further.

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To experience the AI-powered newsreader on Opera Mini and Opera for Android browser, you can download the browser here.