MUMBAI: CNN.com has announced the launch of a new, expanded home page designed to offer users easier and faster access to more news and information than ever before. The changes visible on the site includes horizontal navigation, most popular tabs, free video, CNN Pipeline, only on CNN (box provides a place for our producers to feature the most interesting and important news that you'll find exclusively on CNN), CNN wire and podcasts and radio.

CNN.com senior vice president and executive producer Mitch Gelman says, “This new home page presentation provides quicker, easier access to our extensive offering of news, video, podcasts and other multimedia packages.

“The design also creates new ways to align our efforts with CNN’s broadcast networks, clearly presents both our free video and our premium CNN Pipeline live video service, and offers more placement opportunities for our advertisers.”

In an official statement, the changes include placing the main site navigation bar at the top of the home page, providing easier access to general content as soon as users visit CNN.com. The new design makes a clearer distinction between CNN.com’s offering of free video and that of CNN Pipeline, a premium on-demand broadband video news service which features up to four simultaneous live feeds.

The changes also provide 'most popular' tabs enabling users to click directly to the most viewed articles and videos on the site. Finally, a wider screen format allows for more content “above the fold” and creates prominent eye-catching ad placement opportunities.

“Advertisers continue to search for alternative ways to enhance the value of their brands and messages across emerging technologies and engage with consumers," said CNN Digital sr VP sales Joe Dugan. "The new home page design presents advertisers a clean, clutter-free environment to showcase their message while reaching the valued audience of CNN.com.”

Westin Hotels and Resorts, a part of the Starwood Group, is among the first advertisers to take advantage of a fixed rectangular ad unit prominent on the newly designed home page.

As the first Internet site dedicated to 24-hour news coverage, CNN.com ranks as a leading online news and information site, attracting an average of 23 million unique users each month. Launched in 1995, CNN.com draws from the resources of CNN Worldwide to provide relevant, up-to-the minute news and information. CNN.com features the latest multimedia technologies, from video streaming to audio packages to searchable archives of news features and background information.