A Proven Formula: Reader Engagement That Drives Growth
Each publisher we work with transforms engagement in a slightly different way. But the results share a common pattern: deeper interaction, more loyal audiences, and measurable commercial impact.
Empower Your Financial Brand for the Retail Investor Era
Retail investors are reshaping financial media.
Norkon helps publishers evolve from information providers to trusted, interactive brands: engaging, educating, and inspiring the next generation of investors.
The Retail Investor Democratization Is Changing the Game
Retail investors now drive a record share of global trading activity, and they’re turning to trusted financial publishers for insights.
This audience expects real-time data, interactive experiences, credible guidance and personalized insights that help them learn and act confidently. Publishers who deliver that experience are building stronger brands, deeper engagement, and entirely new revenue streams.
Norkon empowers financial publishers to meet this shift, transforming traditional market coverage into interactive, habit-forming experiences that turn readers into loyal investors.
Data-driven solutions for financial publishers
Norkon’s suite of solutions brings together live market data, gamification, and personalization, helping publishers attract, educate, and retain the retail investor audience under their own brand.
Fantasy Funds
A gamified stock market experience that attracts 123 000 registrants across 5 publications. The game fosters daily engagement and repeated visits, teaches financial literacy, increases ad impressions, and provides a natural path toward paid subscriptions.
Pulse
Real-time market insights and data visualizations that keep audiences informed and returning. The tool bridges editorial content with live market data, increases time on site and drives ad revenue by 50 percent.
Beakon
Revolutionizing the first mile of financial journalism. Beakon enables editors to uncover overlooked stories and delivers source-cited outputs aligned with brand standards. For readers, Beakon personalizes the market experience, surfaces companies and trends they care about most, reduces churn by building daily habits, and drives subscriptions.
All solutions are fully white-labelled, integrate seamlessly with your CMS, and are customizable to match your brand identity. Whether used separately or combined, we ensure that the experiences delivered through our solutions create a self-reinforcing loop – from discovery to habit, from readers to investors.
From Market Coverage to Monetization
Børsen saw a +50% increase in advertising revenue after integrating Pulse to power real-time market coverage and interactive visualizations.
This new experience extended session duration and improved ad viewability, allowing the publisher to command premium rates and attract new sponsorships from financial enterprises.
How it matters: This exemplifies that interactive financial content isn’t just engagement-driven, it’s revenue-driven. Publishers that blend live data and editorial coverage strengthen both their reader value and their commercial proposition.
Turning Gamification into Rapid Audience Growth
Finland’s leading business publication attracts 24 000+ registered users within five weeks through a Fantasy Funds game.
Kauppalehti launched Fantasy Funds as part of a national push to reach a younger investing audience. The game allowed readers to build virtual portfolios, compete, and learn, while driving sign-ups, repeat visits, and new subscriptions.
How it matters: Gamified experiences accelerate first-party data collection and lower acquisition costs. For publishers, Fantasy Funds becomes both an engagement engine and a way to establish strong brand relationships with future subscribers.
Building Habit Through Data-Driven News
Dagens Næringsliv experiences 1⁄3 of total site traffic coming from their Investor portal, powered by Pulse’s market dashboards.
By connecting editorial content to interactive live data, DN transformed static market coverage into a daily-use financial hub. Readers return multiple times per day to check market movements and related stories, deepening loyalty to the DN brand.
How it matters: This illustrates how real-time data tools move a publisher from “news outlet” to “financial companion.” Habit-building usage is the most valuable predictor of subscriber retention.
Games That Boost Editorial Reach
During their Fantasy Funds game periods, Finanz und Wirtschaft witnesses a significantly higher traffic to investment-related articles.
The Fantasy Funds competition not only draws thousands of players but also lifts readership across FuW’s editorial coverage.
How it matters: Gamification efficiently connects readers with journalism. By linking interactive experiences to editorial content, publishers extend the lifecycle of their reporting and increase advertising inventory on high-value pages.
Strengthening Brand Connection
“Gamifying the stock market with Fantasy Funds proved to be a great way to engage users and gain new subscribers.” – Johan Östberg, Dagens industri
Sweden’s most trusted financial news outlet wanted to engage readers beyond articles and headlines, to make the Di brand feel participatory.
How it matters: By blending credibility with interactivity, Di elevated its role from financial publisher to financial partner, deepening trust, broadening reach, and reinforcing its position as the go-to brand for modern investors.
Frequently Asked Questions
Fantasy Funds
Supporting audience retention & growth
Game play
Gamification benefits
Game development
Pulse
Data discovery
Supporting revenue objectives
How does Fantasy Funds reduce reader churn?
By turning financial news into an interactive, gamified experience, Fantasy Funds encourages players to return daily to track their portfolios and standings. These repeated interactions build habits, keep audiences engaged over longer periods, and strengthen loyalty to the publisher’s platform.
How does Fantasy Funds support audience growth and monetization?
Fantasy Funds attracts new users by appealing to both finance enthusiasts and casual readers who want to learn through play. Every registration creates opportunities for publishers to convert players into long-term subscribers. In addition, the competitive and shareable nature of the game helps extend reach organically through word of mouth and social media.
Can anyone play a Fantasy Funds game?
When your news publishing company sets up a Fantasy Funds game, it is up to you who will be able to play. Different combinations are possible depending on your objectives. You can open up the first game competition to anyone and allow only subscribers to play the next round, or limit the number of portfolios or tools to free players and give more advantages to current paying readers, and so on. Fantasy Funds is flexible to meet your financial gamification needs.
How long does one Fantasy Funds game typically last?
Typically a game lasts between 8 and 24 weeks. The duration is set based on your preference and goals.
Why introduce a Fantasy Funds game to potential players?
Financial literacy is a great hook for attracting new users, whether these are customers, readers, or subscribers. Gamifying financial literacy, making learning fun, motivates and incentivizes users to continue playing. Games are sticky and allow for incremental learning that leads to greater engagement.
For players, participating in a Fantasy Funds game has been shown to boost a user’s willingness to invest in markets by 70% compared to before they took part in a game. It builds confidence through the combination of financial tools, news, hands-on education and potential rewards through incentivizing consistent play.
What type of prizes and incentives are supported?
We have extensive experience in optimizing prizes to maximize the number of players and engagement in the game. For example, combining grand prizes with weekly prizes as well as league prizes. We are happy to advise you.
How to attract players to the game?
Players are attracted through a combination of organic SEO visibility, on-platform visibility, i.e., your website and platforms, and ads (we provide recommendations for advertising). Please contact us to discuss how we can maximize the reach and engagement your game generates.
What type of instruments does the game support? Only stocks or can other instrument types also be supported?
Fantasy Funds can support many different types of financial instruments including stocks, cryptocurrencies, funds, ETFs, etc. These instruments can either be sourced from our own market data provider or using your existing or preferred data provider. Please contact us for more information about market data.
What makes Fantasy Funds unique compared to other stock market games?
Unlike generic investing apps, Fantasy Funds is built specifically for media publishers. It integrates directly into news sites, drives registrations, and is designed to funnel players toward subscription journeys. The game balances entertainment with financial literacy, giving users a safe, risk-free way to learn about investing while deepening their connection to the publisher’s brand.
What business benefits will gamification through Fantasy Funds deliver, i.e., what is the return on investment?
Fantasy Funds games have proven that they can be successfully monetized for a significant ROI.
Monetization strategies are realized through:
- Conversion of subscribers and registration of new users. Fantasy Funds is a conversion machine, guiding users through your subscription funnel.
- Large-scale commercial sponsorship deals. Fantasy Funds is ideal for the placement of banners and ads in key locations within the platform.
- Advertising exposure and revenue across millions of generated page views
How long does it take to develop and launch a Fantasy Funds game?
While development and launch of a game varies depending on your needs, usually from the moment we start planning until game launch, development typically takes about 12 weeks.
Can my Fantasy Funds game be differentiated and branded – how?
Fantasy Funds offers flexible development to create a native look and feel, so you can a white-labeled experience for your own games.
Do we have to run the game ourselves?
No, Norkon implements, hosts, and manages the game. It is 100% independent and bolt-on.
How does Pulse help financial journalists with data discovery?
Pulse provides real-time access to financial market data through intuitive dashboards and interactive visualizations. Instead of manually sifting through feeds or raw numbers, journalists can quickly identify market-moving trends, discover story angles, and enrich their coverage with data-driven insights. This accelerates the reporting process while ensuring accuracy and depth in financial journalism.
How does Pulse support reader retention and subscription growth?
Pulse keeps readers engaged with real-time data, personalized watchlists, and interactive portfolio tools that encourage daily return visits. This habit-building behavior reduces churn and naturally guides users from free access to premium subscription tiers where advanced articles and investor features are unlocked.
How does Pulse support advertisement strategies?
By combining live market data with editorial content, Pulse increases reader engagement and time spent on site – two key metrics that drive ad revenue (as well as SEO score). The platform’s interactive tools create high-value inventory for advertisers, allowing publishers to package premium ad placements alongside sought-after financial data and insights. In addition, the stickiness of Pulse encourages repeat visits, strengthening audience segments that are attractive for targeted advertising and sponsorship opportunities.
What sponsorship opportunities are available within Pulse?
Banks, brokers, and fintech brands looking to reach financially minded audiences can sponsor Pulse modules. Publishers can offer dedicated sections as premium sponsorship placements, creating new high-value inventory beyond traditional banner ads.
Is it possible to have some Pulse features freely available and other features for subscribers only?
Yes, Pulse offers you full control so that you can decide to set up a paywall in front of certain features or analytical tools and not on others.