One problem many newsrooms face centers on how they bring new users into content products and what they invite those users to do first. Propensity modeling often uses signals such as repeat visits, time on site or article depth to estimate future action or value and to surface prompts like newsletter sign-ups or subscription offers. These signals work well for timing and targeting. However, they rarely point to actions that help a person express interest, claim a preference or begin personalizing the experience. As a result, first interactions often involve reading a story, scrolling and leaving with no clear path to in shaping what they see next or necessitate a repeat visit.

Why early user choices shape retention

This matters because people naturally look for ways to organize information around their own needs. Across digital products, consumers consistently choose tools that let them save, follow, collect or personalize content in small ways that feel useful and self-directed. When those options are missing or delayed, audiences move through content as passive visitors rather than active participants. They consume what is in front of them, but they do not signal what matters most or establish a reason to return.

Designing the first action that makes news feel personal

Audience retention improves when content products give people an early chance to make a deliberate, personal choice that reflects interest, identity and preference. When a person follows a topic or builds a reading list tied to a personal interest, they have something they want to come back to. A single action turns a visit into a relationship because the product now reflects what the person cares about, not just what they read. When newsrooms design for these moments, something personal begins to live inside the experience.

To better engage and retain audiences, focus on creating a first interaction that feels personal and meaningful. These early, identity-driven choices lead to more return visits and stronger retention. This helps grow a larger and more loyal audience that is more likely to subscribe or become members. Rather than prompting new visitors to read more or subscribe right away, guide them toward a small action that anchors interest, such as saving a story, joining a focused newsletter, or engaging with a local beat or community space.

The New York Times has reported that visitors who sign up for a newsletter are twice as likely to become paid subscribers, and that newsletter readers show higher retention over time. This supports the value of offering a simple and intentional first step that deepens the relationship early. I have previously outlined how content organizations that focus on self-directed engagement tend to create products that are more relevant, easier to return to, and more closely aligned with the daily interests of their audience.

Some publishers already design these first actions into the earliest moments of the experience. Axios developed an “Add Axios on Google,” option as a simple step that lets someone designate the outlet as a preferred source. That one action helps ensure Axios appears more often in Google Discover and search results for that reader, while giving the user a steady stream of stories without having to seek them out. It is a small choice, but it creates continuity, reinforces preference, increases likelihood of repeat exposure and helps turn an anonymous visit into an ongoing relationship. 

Each of these examples invites an early, voluntary action that lets a user claim preference before the product tries to convert them. Other first actions include simple reflection prompts that help users connect a story to their own lives. For example, asking “Why did this story matter to you?” and offering quick, selectable responses such as:

• It affects my community
• It affects my family
• It affects my vote
• I had not seen this reported before

You can also invite small, self-directed steps like selecting a topic tag or choosing areas of interest that reflect how they think about local or national issues. Each of these actions is fast, personal, and intentional, helping users see themselves in the experience from the very beginning.

These fit neatly into existing propensity models as a deeper layer of signal. Rather than relying only on baseline behaviors, the model now incorporates choices users actively make to shape what they see next. That balance between prediction and participation produces stronger signals, supports healthier personalization and contributes to better outcomes over time, including higher retention and more durable long-term engagement.

Where audience retention really comes from

People come back to a news site when they do something that makes it feel like it belongs to them. The encouraging reality is that many organizations already do this well, especially as cookies have faded and familiar personalization tools have lost strength. Retention now grows from the choices people willingly make inside a content product, where identity, personalization and a sense of ownership align with everyday relevance and usefulness.

Across audience development, subscriptions, membership and retention, the same pattern shows up again and again. Products perform better when they invite one clear, personal action early on, rather than relying only on recommendation loops that surface similar stories. Discovery still matters, but relevance deepens when users can signal what they care about and see that choice reflected back to them in practical ways.

This moment matters more than ever. Audiences navigate an endless stream of content across platforms, formats and devices, and attention follows experiences that feel purposeful and personal. The next phase of audience and product development depends on designing for these single-step moments that turn passive visits into active relationships. Over time, this reduces one-and-done visits and increases how often people return within a given week. When teams do this well, they create better experiences, generate clearer signals and build stronger connections without compromising trust.

The post To ensure audiences return, invite one meaningful action early appeared first on Digital Content Next.

Portland’s Decision Makers and the News research explores this dynamic in depth and takes a deep look at the media habits of UK professionals, what sources they trust, and how their habits are evolving. The findings shed light on a critical audience that often shapes public discourse while navigating a constantly evolving digital landscape.  

Curators, not merely consumers 

The report confirms that decision-makers are not passive news consumers. They are intentional curators of their media diet. While 41% of the UK public say they actively seek out news, the number rises to 56% among decision-makers. They build a personalized portfolio of sources, balancing legacy outlets like The Guardian and BBC with emerging platforms like Substack, Medium, and YouTube. 

Notably, this group reads deeply and broadly. While traditional print brands remain influential, 60% of respondents still read newspaper content; digital and audio sources are also firmly entrenched. Nearly 80% of decision-makers subscribe to at least one news-focused email newsletter, and 42% regularly listen to news podcasts, double the national average. 

AI is changing decision-makers’ media habits 

Interestingly, 81% of decision-makers use AI tools to stay informed, nearly twice the rate of the general population. Platforms like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot are becoming go-to sources for clarity and context. For 8% of respondents, AI is already their first stop when seeking further information on a story, just shy of Wikipedia’s 10%. This shift highlights a new layer of influence: what AI tools see and how they weigh information may shape the perceptions of this elite audience.  

While their media habits are evolving, decision-makers continue to place a high value on trusted news institutions. The Guardian emerges as the top newspaper brand among this group in terms of consumption and trust, followed by The Times, The Sun, and the Financial Times. On the broadcast front, the BBC remains dominant, reaching 79% of decision-makers and earning the highest trust rating (56%). YouTube, interestingly, is now the third most-trusted video platform (47%). 

A preference for digestible short form media

Though highly engaged, decision-makers are not immune to news fatigue. One-third say they’re less interested in news than they were a year ago, with lack of time cited as the top reason. In fact, 39% prefer short-form articles over long-form content, nearly double the 21% who still favor in-depth readings. 

Newsletters are a clear winner, with the BBC News Daily, Politico Playbooks, and Guardian briefings among the most popular. Podcasts also thrive, with “Sky News Daily” and “The Rest is Politics” topping the charts.  

In today’s media ecosystem, the most influential sources are those that score high on both trust and consumption. The report’s “trust matrix” shows that the BBC, The Guardian, YouTube, and Instagram sit at the intersection of those two forces. These are the formats and platforms that shape the conclusions of decision-makers.  

These findings show that reaching today’s influential decision makers demands a multi-format strategy built on trust and optimized for AI. Traditional outlets remain important, but so do newsletters, podcasts, LinkedIn posts, and being visible in AI-generated summaries. In this landscape, brevity and discoverability are as critical as reach. 

The post Inside the media mindset of UK decision-makers  appeared first on Digital Content Next.

Debunking social media’s mitigation of misinformation

New academic research rebuts previous data suggesting that Meta’s algorithms were effective in limiting misinformation around the last US presidential election. In Social media algorithms can curb misinformation, but do they? scholars from University of Massachusetts Amherst, Indiana University, and University College Dublin reveal that prior research published in Science was conducted during a brief period when Meta had emergency measures in place to quell a dangerous surge of political misinformation. The new research indicates that much of the decrease in untrustworthy news content reported in the prior study was due to temporary “break glass” measures. These were short-lived and have since been lifted.

Authors of the report cite lack of transparency around social media algorithms as a key problem. Companies can potentially change their algorithms during the time they are being studied to improve appearances, and later remove those changes. This appears to have been the case during the previous study. New data shows that the bump in user exposure to news from trustworthy sources only lasted from November 3, 2020, to March 8, 2021- the dates covered by the prior study.

A silver lining: data shows adjustments to news feed algorithms are capable of curbing misinformation – if social media platform owners are incentivized to employ them and keep them in place. “There is a need for independent research of social media platforms and consistent, transparent disclosures about major changes to their algorithm,” the authors report.

More people get news from social media

The recent academic findings are especially concerning because other new surveys show the public relying increasingly on social media for news content. According to Morning Consult’s study, which is based on interviews with 2,2000 US adults:

• Almost 2 out of 5 adults consume news from social media multiple times a day.
• Gen Z cites social media as their most trusted news source.
• Social media news influencers are now among the top three news source for young people- although their credibility is scant compared to traditional news outlets.
• The percentage of TikTok users who rely on the app for news jumped from less than a third in July 2022 to over half in July 2024.
• Over half of the users of X and Facebook, and almost half of YouTube users reported using those apps for news when surveyed in July 2024.

The report finds that people’s increasing reliance on social media for news coincides with an unwillingness of the public to pay for more traditional news sources. This change is evolving quickly.  Only 16% of Americans currently pay for news content, and 39% of those say they plan to cancel their subscriptions within the upcoming quarter.

However, the same study finds most American adults believe that misinformation is on the rise and are concerned about it. While that may not seem reassuring, admitting the problem is a vital first step. This awareness gives news leaders a chance to appeal to consumers who are searching for more reliable content.

A global crisis of misinformation

The US is far from alone in combating misinformation, political or otherwise. International experts recognize it as a global crisis. In fact, 412 researchers from 66 countries cited social media platform owners as the largest threats to the information environment, followed by governments and politicians, according to the International Panel on the Information Environment (IPIE)’s survey.

Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, WhatsApp, Telegram, Reddit, 4chan, and X- were platforms that raised concern among experts, along with generative AI and internet search engines. Journalists and news organizations ranked of least concern as spreaders of misinformation.

What can be done to promote a healthier news ecosystem? Three factors were most cited by experts around the world:

• Availability of accurate information (65%)
• Diversity of voices (42%)
• Diversity of media ownership (33%)

‍Two thirds (63%) of the experts surveyed in 2024 expect the information environment to worsen in the future, an increase from just over half (54%) in the previous year’s survey. International researchers agree that access to accurate information, including support of free and independent media, is critical for a healthy global news environment.

Burnout threatens journalists, and the news

The fraught news ecosystem is taking a toll on journalists, causing them to rethink their career paths. Over half of journalists considered resigning due to stress and burnout over the past year, according to a recent survey by Muck Rack. 40% of journalists have left a previous job due to stress or burnout, indicating that these feelings often do translate to action.

Retention of experienced staff is important to the stability and credibility of news media. High turnover jeopardizes the ability of news organizations to provide uninterrupted quality content to the public, which is especially crucial around a contentious presidential election.

A heightening sense of urgency around 24-7 cable news coverage combined with doomscrolling on social media, impacts the mental health of many Americans. This in turn poses further danger to journalists. While journalism has always involved an element of risk, increasing attacks are causing some schools of journalism to include how to remain safe in the midst of conflict as part of their lesson plans.

Proactive steps media organizations can take

The state of news in a rapidly changing technology landscape doesn’t lend itself to easy solutions. However, a few paths in the right direction are indicated by the above research.

Requiring greater transparency from social media giants is a key step in enabling accurate research into the algorithmic changes that can increase exposure to more reliable news and curtail disinformation. “Laws such as the Digital Services Act in the European Union and the proposed Platform Accountability and Transparency Act in the U.S…  could empower researchers to conduct independent audits of social media platforms and better understand the potentially serious effects of ever-changing social media algorithms on the public,” academic researchers assert. While some companies might eschew the push for more transparency, research produced by academia can also provide insights that platforms may utilize for their benefit.

News media leadership can help support a healthier environment by making employees aware of available of mental health resources, expressing support for those who need help, and by putting policies in place to minimize interruptions during staff vacation and off hours.

Digital access is a critical issue worldwide, especially in developing countries, but many digital platforms facilitate the spread of misinformation. Global experts agree it’s important that news remain free from government or political control, because politicians can be among the greatest amplifiers of disinformation. The public’s growing concern about the spread misinformation presents opportunity for reputable news organizations to promote the accuracy and quality of their content – and to encourage support for the free press.

The post As the election nears, news concerns intensify appeared first on Digital Content Next.

A recent study by the Media Ecosystem Observatory underscores the profound effects of these changes on Canadian media. The report, which examined the effect of Meta’s ban on Canadian news, revealed that news outlets lost 85% of their engagement on Facebook and Instagram, leading to a total engagement decline of 43%.

“Canadian news organizations lost an enormous amount of their online viewership,” explained Aengus Bridgman, director of the Media Ecosystem Observatory and co-author of the study. “They’ve been heavily relying on the distribution channels of Google and part Meta to get their work out there.” The study found that Canadians consumed less news as a result of the ban, and that Canadian news outlets saw a reduction of 11 million views a day. 

The report, titled Old News, New Reality: A Year of Meta’s News Ban in Canada, found that approximately 30% of local news outlets in Canada are now inactive on social platforms. “Their digital presence has basically collapsed and they’re no longer connecting to the social web,” he said. 

Navigating a power struggle

Meta’s news ban in Canada underscores the current struggle and challenges news media face amid the power of the platforms. Facebook began blocking Canadian news on its platform and on Instagram, in response to Canada’s Online News Act, which passed in June 2023. The legislation requires big tech companies like Meta and Google to pay media outlets for the news content they share on their platforms.  

Rather than pay, Meta simply blocked Canadian news sharing on its platforms altogether. Within weeks, News Media Canada, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters and public broadcaster CBC/Radio-Canada filed an antitrust complaint against Meta accusing it of abusing its position.

However Meta claims that complying with the legislation would require them to pay for links to news content. Thus, they said they didn’t want to operate in what they considered an unfair regulatory environment.

“(The) legislation misrepresents the value news outlets receive when choosing to use our platforms. The legislation is based on the incorrect premise that Meta benefits unfairly from news content shared on our platforms, when the reverse is true,” the company said in a statement. “News outlets voluntarily share content on Facebook and Instagram to expand their audiences and help their bottom line. In contrast, we know the people using our platforms don’t come to us for news.”

Meta argued that their platform provided significant value to Canadian news publishers by driving over 1.9 billion clicks to their content in the year leading up to April 2022. The company valued that at $230 million in “free marketing.”

Meta’s decision in Canada recalls a similar situation in Australia in 2021, where it briefly banned news on its Australian platforms in response to the threat of regulation under that country’s News Media Bargaining Code. More recently, Meta stated that it will not renew any existing deals with Australian news outlets, nor those in France and Germany. In other words, it looks like Meta is taking a global stand against supporting news on its platform. 

Impact of platform news bans on publishers

In Canada, the impact of the news ban was immediate. Traffic from Facebook plummeted, leading to a sharp decline in audience reach and digital ad revenue. Many Canadian publishers, especially smaller and independent outlets, faced increased financial strain as they lost traffic. 

Chuck Lapointe, CEO of Narcity Media Group, saw years of investment disappear because of the ban. Since 2013, his online outlets have thrived as “social-first” platforms, relying heavily on Facebook and Instagram for distribution. Meta’s abrupt ban severed Narcity and MTL Blog’s connection to Canadian audiences, cutting off revenue streams tied to branded content deals and partnerships.”Right away, all of them were blocked and Canadians were not able to see our content. That was an immediate hit to revenue,” Lapointe said. 

Facebook pages for Narcity and MTL Blog, which had well over 3 million followers, went dark. Lapointe watched as his audience dropped as a result. “We lost 50% of our traffic overnight, which impacted perception and trust.” He also found that “some writers and journalists said that they didn’t want to work with us because they can’t share their work openly.”

Great West Media, which produces 20 print publications across Alberta, also saw traffic and revenue decline. “If we look at traffic as the prime factor in driving revenue, then yes, the Meta news ban had a serious impact,” said Brian Bachynski, president of Great West Media.

Despite the Meta news ban, Great West has still managed to grow its audience online. The company is using a variety of methods, including a strategy for breaking news, newsletters, SEO and more. However, Bachynski said “I’m certain if Meta hadn’t banned news in Canada, our numbers would be greater.”

He has concluded that it is in no business’ best interest to rely heavily on a third party as the primary driver of revenue. “Because ad volume is predicated upon page views, the Meta ban has depressed traffic to our websites and therefore our ability to drive revenues. These revenues, however, are not enough to operate a plausible business,” he said. “Even without Meta’s ban, our audience isn’t large enough to exist on the extremely low ad rates carved out by the monopolistic practices of Meta, Amazon and Google.”

The decline in traffic appears to have been part of a longer-term trend in Canada, according to David Beers, editor in chief of The Tyee, a B.C.-based independent, online news magazine. Even before the official block, he watched The Tyee’s Facebook engagement dropping over the previous year—evidence that Facebook was already adjusting its algorithms to deprioritize news. 

“We saw it. It was unmistakable. We compared notes with other publications. They saw the same,” Beers said. “It really throws a lot of doubt on Facebook’s claim that if it weren’t for the Online News Act, they would be supportive and sharing a lot of news on their site.”

Beers said that Facebook may be using Canada as an example to deter similar regulations in larger jurisdictions like California and the European Union. However, he said, “no one pays attention to Canada, so there’s no price to be paid by depriving us of the sharing of news.”

Meta decides what’s news

The ban rollout was also messy because it affected media outlets that don’t produce news. Among them was the satire and parody publication, The Beaverton, and campus radio stations, from CIUT 89.5 at the University of Toronto to CJSW 90.9 at the University of Calgary. 

CJSW Station Manager Adam Kamis believes campus radio stations were included in the list of news agencies simply because they are community media, rather than being assessed individually. “We lost our Instagram and Facebook about this time last year,” he explained.

CJSW, which has been broadcasting since 1957, has 110 music, spoken word and multicultural programs in more than 10 languages. They have volunteer hosts talk about stories that matter to them, Kamis explained. “And, we don’t even really do news reporting that much.”

“Now we’re getting no money and we have no use and access to these services. And though our presence is rooted in the auditory experience, we live in a world where the visual needs to be part of the presence as well. Without that, it’s like we have the worst of all possible worlds befalling us where we have no presence and no money.”

As a campus community radio station, CJSW relies on community and listener engagement. They leverage their following for ads and sponsorship. The ban impacted the station’s ability to sponsor local music festivals and its annual funding drive, which generates essential revenue to support station operations, programming, and services. 

It’s usually an amazing opportunity to share on social media, but not with a ban in place, Kamis said. “Last year was our first year without it,” Kamis said. “We were able to leverage our connections with our friends of the community to help… but that’s a thing I don’t want to rely on year after year.” 

Meta’s interpretation of what qualifies as news posed a particularly ironic challenge for digital outlet Narcity–one that demonstrates the subjectivity of the company’s decisions around what to block. “The government doesn’t hold an official list of news organizations that Meta would have to comply with,” said Lapointe. “So Meta… relies on their interpretation of which companies would be captured. And right now, you are automatically part of the law if you are a QCJO company.” 

For years, Narcity tried to receive a Qualified Canadian Journalism Organization (QCJO) designation, which must be determined by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to qualify for journalism labor tax credits. Narcity was denied the qualification in 2021. It resubmitted in 2022, and was denied again.

“Essentially [the government] doesn’t believe that we do enough original news content to get the validation or to get the designation for our news organization, which would allow us to get the subsidies. It would allow us to get the QCJO, which would’ve included us automatically in the Online News Act,” Lapointe said. 

After the denial of the QCJO, Lapointe used the rejection letter–which says that the government does not recognize it as a news organization that is engaged in the production of original news–to Meta for reconsideration. “The government does not believe that Narcity is a news organization, so why would Meta?” Two days later it regained control of its Facebook and Instagram pages.

Workarounds, circumventions, and modified hyperlinks

The ban made it difficult for news outlets and emergency officials to get information out to the public during public safety emergencies. Over the last year, officials noted that misinformation about the fires was rife on social media, encouraging the public to tune in to radio or to live blogs for accurate updates on the dozens of wildfires burning across Western Canada. As a wildfire closed in around the city of Yellowknife, Ollie Williams, the editor of Yellowknife-based news station Cabin Radio, got around the Meta ban by posting a live blog. 

So, with news no longer accessible on Meta platforms, Canadians have turned to creative ways to share information that is important to them. The Media Ecosystem Observatory study revealed prior to the ban, there were about 19 posts per week with Canadian news screenshots. After the ban, this number surged to an average of 68 posts per week.

Canadians continued to share and circulate news through direct links to an X (formerly Twitter) post, which then links to the news website. They also copy and paste text. 

Another way Canadians shared news on Meta platforms was by making a video with a news story in the background, talking about or responding to the events, Bridgman said. “That person, that influencer is producing engagement on the website using news content, and so they are distributing the news content.”

CJSW’s Kamis saw CJSW spelled out phonetically as a workaround. “It’s so funny. We can be on Threads because nobody’s on Threads, but this is how cynical the business model is. We’re allowed to be on Threads because no one’s on Threads.”

The future of media and news consumers at risk

Long-term ramifications for publishers are emerging, including obstacles for new launches, future growth and reaching some communities with news. According to Beers, Facebook is often the only major means of distributing information in rural, non-metropolitan areas in Canada. Many First Nations live in rural areas and Facebook acts as their source of news.

“In rural places, they’re cut off. And because Facebook purchased social license to be the place where you shared information, other alternative forms of news did not grow there,” he said. “Why would I start up a small little website in Fort Nelson or something when everyone’s on Facebook sharing news?…  These places are deprived. It’ll take years, if ever, for them to come up with an alternative.”

The Observatory’s report also highlights what Bridgman called “a collective shrug,” among Canadians. Instead of actively seeking out news from reliable sources, there is a growing expectation that information will find its way to people through their existing social networks and everyday media consumption.

The behavior highlights a “news will find me” attitude. However, he said that Canadians aren’t getting their news on Facebook and Instagram any longer, so the thought is that they must be getting it somewhere else. Unfortunately, “we have very little evidence to suggest Canadians are doing that at all,” Bridgman said. “Gone are the days when you would seek out information actively, you would be an active participant in that process.”

Meta’s news ban in Canada has had a profound impact on the media landscape, though only 22% of Canadians are aware that the ban exists, according to the MEO study. It resulted in a dramatic and immediate impact on traffic, a decline in revenue, views and engagement and diminished trust, underscoring the need for new strategies to engage audiences outside of social platforms. 

“I don’t think anyone looks at this and thinks this is good. It has hurt Canadian viewership of news. It has hurt Canadian news organizations. It has hurt journalism in that sense. It has hurt the ability to hold truth to power. None of that is good,” Bridgman said. 

The situation Canadian news publishers find themselves in emphasizes the need for innovative business models that do not rely heavily on social media platforms for distribution and revenue.  

If journalism is crucial for a healthy democracy, then we need to find ways to support its news-gathering efforts, at arms length from government, Bachynski said. Bachynski suggested implementing a taxation policy whereby digital ads and services are purchased, and a ‘journalism’ tax is applied to it, which could significantly bolster news gathering and reporting.  Lapointe also mentioned the possibility of subsidizing innovations around business models.

However, as he and others have noted, the need for smart regulatory interventions becomes urgent when news organizations’ survival is tied to the whims of tech giants.

“Having this third party mediator between the content is highly risky and many have been saying that for years. And here is the proof in the pudding: relying on an external company to manage that relationship puts you at extreme vulnerability. If they decide to pull the rug out, that’s what happens,” Bridgman continued.

The post How Meta’s news ban reshaped Canadian media appeared first on Digital Content Next.

Platforms like TikTok and Instagram offer access to creator tools and global distribution, which helps these accounts reach large audiences. However, measuring the extent of news consumption on social and video networks is complex due to the diverse range of accounts and topics discussed. However, Reuters’ Institute’s new report, Digital News Report 2024, provides a snapshot of the most influential accounts and the balance of attention between alternative news sources and mainstream. The report examines the nature of these alternative voices and their followers and evaluates the reliability of the information and the implications for the marketplace.

Recall of alternative news accounts (58%) surpasses mainstream news brands in the U.S. (42%). This indicates a significant shift toward news creators and influencers. This trend also underscores alternative voices’ growing influence, as well as the continuous evolution of news content and delivery.

Linked to this trend, video storytelling is an increasingly crucial online news source, especially among younger audiences. Short news videos – popular on TikTok and Instagram – are accessed by 66% of respondents each week, while longer formats attract around 51%. Most online news video consumption takes place on social platforms. Audiences favor these platforms for news (72%) over publisher websites, which only attract 22%. This increases the challenges around monetization and connection for traditional news publishers.

Audience and content analysis

Reuter’s report asked respondents to name accounts they follow most closely across six popular platforms—Facebook, X, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. Respondents identify Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan as the accounts they follow most closely. Interestingly, the most mentioned (top 10) individual names offer political commentary or chat rather than original newsgathering. Most of the popular content is also partisan, with little or no attempt to present a balanced view. And the entire top 10 list is comprised of white men. Many of these names are hardly “alternative,” as they come with decades of experience in legacy media ― traditional cable or talk radio networks.

Some alternative news brands are comprised of multiple creators, such as the Daily Wire and Blaze TV (conservative), Young Turks, and Medias Touch (progressive). Regardless of their politics, the look is consistent and video-centric. It’s somewhere between a podcast and a TV broadcast – with mostly male hosts talking to mostly male guests.

The nature of some of this content may not appeal to advertisers. As a result, some personalities find other ways to generate revenue, such as appealing directly for donations or selling merchandise. A few, such as Tucker Carlson, are trying out premium subscriptions, providing additional content or networking opportunities for a fee.

Reliability and impact on society

The reliability of information shared by alternative voices is a critical concern. While some independent journalists and creators provide valuable insights and diverse perspectives, others report misinformation and partisan content. The decentralized nature of these platforms makes it challenging to regulate content quality, leading to potential societal impacts, such as increased polarization and the spread of false information.

The rise of alternative news sources and the popularity of individual’s “news” accounts shows a growing audience preference for creators and influencers—even in their consumption of what they define as news. These alternatives claim to offer free expression, positioning themselves against mainstream media, which they accuse of suppressing the truth or serving elite interests.

The insights provided by Reuters’ findings makes evident the popularity of short form video for news among audiences. It also sheds some light on the types of storytelling and storytellers who audiences find most engaging. News media outlets should explore new creative formats and personalities and showcase creators’ individual style and personalities to embrace changing news preferences and engage today’s audiences.

The post Today’s audiences like short video news with personality appeared first on Digital Content Next.

A new report from FT Strategies and Medill’s Knight Lab, “Next Gen News” aims to help news media producers understand the needs and behaviors of younger news consumers so that they can better serve these news consumers. particularly as they come to dominate content consumption in the future. The report also points to the fact that we frequently see the behaviors and preferences of younger consumers eventually adopted by older ones as well, which gives their attitudes additional weight.

Emerging behaviors of young news audiences

The research finds that the next generation of news consumers exhibit four key emerging behaviors:

1. Digital simul-tasking

They fluidly transition between dissimilar tasks (messaging friends, buying things, playing games, catching up on socials, listening to a podcast) while they’re on their phones.

2. Sensemaking via digital discourse

They rely on the personal opinions of others in digital contexts to frame and understand the news.

3. Filtering through trusted networks

They seek out sources of information from people that they know, or feel like they know (e.g. their favorite creator), in real life.

4. Sophisticated searching

They have honed their own sophisticated search skills on social media platforms and in online communities to avoid information overload.

What young consumers need to navigate news

To navigate information, the research found that younger audiences also adopt different modes of consumption which can occur throughout the day to satisfy different news needs:

Sift

They need simple, low-effort ways to keep up with and discover relevant news.

Substantiate

 They need straightforward ways to follow up on and verify news that has sparked their interest.

Study

They need access to content that educates, upskills and inspires them (when they want to dive more deeply).

Socialize

they need information that they can share that makes them feel current, connected and socially validated.

Sensemake

They need different perspectives and other accessible ways to process and understand complex topics.

The ideal news experience for young audiences

Most news producers operate under the assumption that young audiences’ news consumption takes place on mobile phones and is primarily accessed through social media and video. While the research points out that this approach is not wrong, they found that it lacks the level of nuance required to build significant audiences for the future.

After extensive experiments and interviews with 45 young news consumers, the researchers found that that the ideal news experience for the 18-25 year old respondents revolved around three important factors: trusted source, personal significance and desired storytelling.

Rebuilding trust with young news audiences

For most media organizations today, the issue of trust is of particular concern. Traditionally news brands have relied on trust signals that lean into brand and credentials and actually avoid any personal information about the makers of news. However, younger news consumers may be more inclined to trust reporters over monolithic brands, particularly if they are more transparent about who they are. In fact, it might be beneficial to news organizations to help journalists build their personal brand.

The report suggests that media brands might better make use of the lived experiences and personal stories of journalists and other subject matter experts to build deeper connections with the next generation. However, they point to the difficulties of achieving this without undermining journalistic notions of balance and fairness.

News that matters to young audiences

Deciding what stories matter most has also long been the provenance of news providers. It is common to assume everyone is interested in “hard news” (or believe that they should be) and therefore over-index on reporting of topics like politics, international affairs, economics, and science. It is important to recognize that while younger news consumers know that these are important topics, they are bombarded with content and seek out a personal connection to information to give it relevance that will allow it to rise above the noise.

By adopting a broader definition of news that incorporates infotainment and giving more space to “soft news” topics, news brands can better engage younger audiences and provide entry points into more difficult topics that serve different life stages. These audiences want to understand how a piece of news directly impacts their life and those around them. They also appreciate context and explainers that help to bridge gaps in their knowledge. And they want to feel that they can take action; that they are part of a solution working with their community on big social, political, and economic issues.

Storytelling formats that engage young news consumers

Historically, news producers have sought out singular and uniform formats that would attract younger audiences, such as the industry-wide “pivot to video” in the 2010s.  However, the research found that format preferences were dependent on several factors, not least the mode that consumers were in. For example, those in the Sift mode may be more likely to look for short form videos or TLDRs, while consumers in the Study mode are more likely to consume long-form podcasts.

To meet the needs of younger audiences, news producers must acknowledge that there is value in a diverse portfolio of formats that match an individual’s preferences or situation (time of day). In other words, they must not default to any one storytelling structure that doesn’t align the kinds of emerging styles and formats that are growing in popularity. And it is critical that news organizations adopt an experiment-led approach that allows them to validate audience demand.

The time to act – to attract young news audiences – is now

Certainly, we have seen that consumer behavior and expectations shift as each generation matures. However, the authors of the “Next Gen News” report point out that news producers can’t afford to wait to build relationships with younger audiences. Instead, they need to make the effort to meet them where they are now to be perceived as a trusted ally moving forward.

It is critical to understand the shifting information consumption trends shaping the expectations of younger news consumers. By developing trust-based relationships on their terms, news brands can engage and interact with these audiences now. This requires adapting to the information environment they live in, and adopting an open, experimental mindset that maintains the values of quality news while adapting to serve the next generation of news audiences.

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This is something that the team at Filipino online news website Rappler have been thinking about for some time. Rappler co-founder and CEO Maria Ressa (winner of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize) was among those in the news business noticing a decline in social media traffic. She also saw how the algorithms were creating deep silos of information for individuals, creating an “information dystopia.” Rather than continue to reinforce the role of platforms in building information communities, Ressa and the Rappler team felt there was a better way. 

“The insidious manipulation of Big Tech – inciting fear, anger and hate for profit – has destroyed the public sphere and the crucial discussions needed for democracy,” she wrote in a launch post for Rappler Communities. “It’s time to build our shared reality and redefine civic engagement, to restore trust.”

This community platform is a true digital town square

Rappler launched its own community platform as an iOS, Android and web app in late December 2023. The approach is intended to create a true digital town square, moderated by Rappler’s own journalists, which connects people with their interests and passions. From local politics to tech, food and climate change, there are chat groups (called channels) to cater to a wide range of audience interests. 

These channels are organized according to the beats Rappler covers. It offers a way to introduce audiences to the journalists, and cultivate a more direct relationship, which humanizes reporters.

Community Lead Pia Ranada thinks that Rappler’s professional journalists are well-suited to cultivate their community. “Journalists have always traditionally been the gatekeepers of information,” she explained. “We believe we write what people need to know, and what the public interest is. And we have the interests of the public at heart because we want to keep them informed. We want to give them facts and not propaganda. We want to give them information that is timely, is verified, and is comprehensive. 

“As people who deal with information dissemination and journalism and fact checking on a daily basis, we think that we would have this role. So, a platform that combines our journalism, coupled with engagement with our audiences is something we’re uniquely positioned to provide.”

There is a particularly acute need for community-building that incorporates the media in the Philippines, given that journalists are regularly vilified. “When you go into chat rooms and you see Maria or another Rappler reporter asking you what you think, there’s something there that builds trust,” said Ranada . “We care enough that we want to bring you into our app and our chat rooms. We care enough that we will tag you and let you know that we have a question that we’re crowdsourcing, and that your questions matter. These little things speak volumes about how a newsroom treats its audience, its community.”

This principle carries through into the name “Rappler Communities.” The approach is not just a one-way relationship news. Rather, Rappler’s team wants to harness the community for their journalism. “Crowdsourcing things, getting civil society to talk about their issues and amplify their concerns. I think those build action, and I think those build community,” Ranada said, giving examples of action. “In the end, the whole point is to build trust, which benefits not just journalists, but society.”

The Rappler Communities app’s decentralized approach

Rappler has built its community app on Matrix; an open protocol which allows secure, decentralized communications. It is similar to Slack in the way channels are accessed. However, Rappler felt that it was very important that the publisher owned the app rather than cultivating a community on a third-party platform.  

“Having an app is a tighter communication and distribution effort. [Our audience is] in a piece of tech we made for them,” Ranada explained. “It’s a way to ensure that if something bad happens with the other Big Tech platforms, we always have our backyard that we can depend on. It’s under our control. And that’s an assurance to our community.”

AI has also been built into the app from the start. AI moderators work alongside the journalists to keep conversation civil, although members can always appeal to a human if they think the AI has incorrectly blocked something. The app uses bots to post relevant stories to relevant chat rooms, and for fun, has a games bot which sends questions and quizzes to some of the channels. 

Although Rappler has a membership program, Rappler+, the community is free to anyone as long as they register with an email address. However, the Rappler Community does have a private group in the app just for Rappler+ members where they get updates about upcoming stories, events and briefings.

Nurturing the Rappler news-based community platform

As any publisher who has attempted to start a community knows, keeping it going after initial launch is no easy task. Ranada said that she is beginning by tapping into the loyal base of Rappler readers rather than attracting people who aren’t yet familiar with the brand. “Our target is to involve people who are our fans, our loyal base,” she outlined. “This is a gift to them that we’re trying to lean into this loyal base even more and introduce them to our  journalists.”

From there, they plan to grow and expand to other communities, groups and audiences from an existing position of strength. 

Since launching in December, the channels have been useful for crowdsourcing. For example, a new policy was recently announced in Manila about a ban on e-bikes on major roads. After the news broke, the team went on the chatroom and asked the community what they thought.

“It was really helpful to our journalists to see that, oh, this is what they think, and we got to directly quote from them,” explained Ranada. “We created instant quote cards based on the quotes people sent in, then we amplified them on all of our social media accounts. So that way, people who are chatting on our app also feel that their voices are amplified.”

That’s not to say it’s all smooth sailing. Ranada acknowledged that not all reporters are community builders: “We’re used to chasing stories but not really tending to a community. But we think this is something that we’re training into all of our reporters, every staff member.”

Part of her role as Community Lead involves highlighting best practices, and bringing experienced moderators together to share handbooks and guidelines on how to moderate or start chats in the communities. “We have our own coordination channel where we help each other,” Ranada said, explaining that best practice is communicated to different units. “What do I do when no one’s answering my call-out? What’s the best way to ensure this community chat is well-attended? Or how do I convince this particular person to join?”

One early learning Ranada was keen to share was that they were initially unsure which channels to create. “At first, we thought that the hard topics like justice and human rights would carry the day because our audience is naturally drawn to that kind of content,” she explained. “But actually we’ve found that leaning into the softer sections has been rewarding. We even have a chat room where our sales team gives away discount coupons from our brand partners.”

The next step is to look at potential monetization options. But because the Rappler Community is still in a very experimental phase, this is something Ranada is approaching very cautiously. 

Communities as the future of news

Underpinning all of this is Rappler’s belief that journalism and community cannot exist without each other. On the launch page, for Rappler Communities they stated: “Trustworthy information and news cannot survive in the toxic environment of today’s social media platforms. And a positive, empathic community is not possible where malicious, manipulative content is allowed to thrive.”

It’s also a way to futureproof the publisher against the threats of generative AI and its impact on SEO. Ranada expressed a fear that LLMs (Large Language Models) are at risk of crippling sites like Rappler if snippets of their content are displayed without encouraging clicks back to the website. But an app – especially one that builds habit and alerts to breaking news events – potentially makes it even easier for users to stay up-to-date.

 “If people are used to, ‘Oh, I’m going to get notified anyway by Rappler the moment something big breaks, I click the notification, I end up on the page, I won’t have to search it on Google,’ those things help newsrooms survive and stay relevant and stay embedded in people’s habits,” she speculated.

For Ranada and the Rappler team, staying relevant to their readers is the best way to navigate the quickly-changing landscape. “The more news products we create that are really attuned to our audiences, the more [publishers] will survive and thrive in this environment,” she encouraged.

The post Rappler invests in community to support the future of news appeared first on Digital Content Next.

That has implications for news organizations seeking to grow, engage, and inform audiences. That, in turn, limits the ability of those titles to hold power to account.

Rasmus Kleis Nielsen is Director at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford. He is also the co-author of a new book entitled Avoiding the News: Reluctant Audiences for Journalism, which delves deeper into the causes of and solutions to news avoidance in greater detail.

In an interview about the book, he tells me that the idea arose from his work on the annual Digital News Report. “We noticed that in the United States almost 10% say that they use news less often than once a month or never. And as someone who believes firmly in the importance of journalism, and who used to think that everyone engaged with the news… I just kept staring at that figure.”

So, he set out to learn more, asking “Who are these people? Why do they say they use so little news? And how do they navigate the world without it?”

He found that, while the impact of public disengagement with newspapers’ missions are the most obvious consequence of news avoidance, it has less immediately apparent implications for media business models. It presents challenges around propensity to pay for news, keyword blocking – and that does not begin to account for the societal impact of citizens choosing to avoid essential news and information.

His research also found a variety of causes for news avoidance among the public, whether that was selectively or constantly. Nielsen says that the majority of news avoiders do not avoid media in general. Rather, there is something specific about news content that repels them.

The psychological impact of negative news

One of the most prominent is that news content can create psychological stress among sections of the audience who are ill-equipped to deal with it. Whether that is as a result of wider social pressures in their lives or simple exhaustion from work, Nielsen says a proportion of respondents believe they have no mental availability to engage with news content:

“What they often seek from the media is something pleasant, something that can help them recharge and renew, as they face another day of often very demanding tasks that they have to take on to provide for themselves or families.”

That is exacerbated by a perception that news content is primarily negative. The adage that “if it bleeds it leads” is undeniably true – perhaps ever more so in the age of social media. However, the trade off for news publishers is that a subset of the audience will disengage from negativity entirely.

So when the news is perceived to be overly negative audiences will choose to avoid it. That feeds the perennial problem of keyword blocking among advertisers, who also seek to avoid association with that negativity – even when the coverage is entirely warranted by a need to inform the public.

Blacklisted, by readers and advertisers

Nielsen acknowledges that news avoidance is not a phenomenon that exists in a vacuum. It feeds into those other issues like keyword blocklists: “We could probably write a whole separate book about advertisers avoiding the news. But at the end of the day, publishers who are relying on advertising will have to consider the reality that much of the public and many advertisers aren’t interested in being next to pieces of journalism that they regard as being divisive and depressing and perhaps not that valuable.”

In Avoiding the News Nielsen and his co-authors acknowledge that, in the case of people’s attitude to media, “perception is reality.” But in line with their recommendations to publishers, they also suggest potential solutions to these issues, one of which is to take a more positive approach to coverage to prevent that disengagement:

Neilsen says that “there is a good case to be made that that media literacy has been very focused on helping people be critical, which is important. But there is a companion [argument] that it’s about helping people be affirmative, about making decisions about what’s good enough in a world of imperfect choices of information.”

Payments, perception, and representation

Another prominent cause of news avoidance is that the public – still – does not feel represented by the news. They do not believe it is either by or for them. Nielsen explains: “There is a very clear sense amongst many of our interviewees that news isn’t for people like them, that news is for people who are older, who identify as male, for people who are well off.”

He likens it to the way that some people say classical music or contemporary art is something that’s “perfectly fine for other people, but it’s not really for people like me.”

That, too, has implications for media business models. An increasing number of media organizations seek to build out subscription models. However, the perception of a lack of representation shrinks the total addressable audience, limiting the potential for converting significant numbers of readers to members or subscribers.

It goes back to what Nielsen describes as a discussion around “identity and ideology.” He notes that the belief that news is not representative is not universal, nor is it unique to either left- or right-leaning audiences. Instead it comes from a wider societal sense of disenfranchisement: the perception is stronger among right-leaning people in the U.S., but among left-leaning people in the U.K. Nielsen attributes this in part to the fact that the U.K .press is perceived to skew right more generally.

However, he points out that “In the U.K., in the U.S., large parts of the public are disenchanted with politics, and they see news as intertwined with politics not in an independent from it. And that sense of alienation from politics in turn informs their relationship with journalism.”

As a result the authors of Avoiding the News say that one potential solution is that the industry needs to recognize that it currently does not speak to as wide an array of people as it could: “It is within the power of journalists and editors to think about ‘what are the sources that we feature?’ ‘What are the topics that we feature?’ ‘How do we write about communities near and far?’ And ‘is it worth more proactively trying to address these very vocal and consistent and long standing concerns many parts of the public have?’”

Community engagement and games we play

Another factor in news avoidance lies in sections of the public not being part of any “news communities.” Nielsen explains that “They don’t get any social affirmation or reinforcement, the way that many white collar people with high levels of formal education move in circles where they’re constantly affirmed that engaging with the news is important and it makes us kind of a better person. It’s not only right, it’s also righteous.”

For news organizations whose audience acquisition and retention strategies rely on bringing audience members into their own news communities, that presents a problem. It is one thing to introduce someone who already interacts with other people around news content into the fold; it is another thing entirely to create that behavior in people.

Membership-based organizations like the U.K.’s “slow news” brand Tortoise rely in part on using their engaged members as ambassadors for the brand.

However, as the success of the New York Times’ cooking and games apps make clear, news content is not the only thing that draws new audience members into the fold. Adjacent products like crosswords – which make community high scores etc. part of their appeal – are ways to sidestep this issue and potentially engage those audiences at a later date.

This time, it might really be personal

News avoidance has risen in priority among media companies’ priority lists over the past few years. On February 27th in the U.K., a House of Lords committee into the impact of technology on news saw it raised as a problem that needs to be overcome, for example. While much of that concern is predicated on the impact on the efficacy of journalism, the subtext is that news avoidance is contributing to media companies’ revenue woes.

Nielsen says that while a lot of the reasons for news avoidance are societal and structural rather than as a direct result of media companies’ decisions, there are still actions editors and journalists can undertake to mitigate it:

“I know that many journalists and news organizations feel a bit uneasy about ideas of personalization. [But] if news media and journalists want to serve everybody, they probably need a more differentiated offer including packaging things for people who may want to hear some things that did not go wrong in the world yesterday before we get to things that [did].”

Ultimately many of the potential solutions presented in the book lie in doubling down on journalism’s promise: to represent the whole public, not just the most affluent members of society, and to ensure that readers and viewers feel that representation.

Nielsen says: “I also would just invite journalists and editors to read some of what citizens told us in our interviews as we feature in the book, because I think on closer inspection, some journalists and editors may admit that people have a point about some of their criticisms of journalism.”

The post Addressing the collateral damage of news avoidance appeared first on Digital Content Next.

Recent research from the Reuters Institute, the Digital News Report, shows a marked increase in people subscribing to or making one-off payments for news content. The industry is experiencing subscription growth ranging from 10% to 17% across 20 countries in the last 10 years. It’s worth noting that online news payments are beginning to stabilize in many of these 20 countries, and a notable correlation exists between high cancellation rates and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

Regional variances in online news payment 

Authors Nic Neuman and Dr. Craig Robertson point out significant regional differences in consumers’ willingness to pay for online news. In some Nordic countries, over a third of the population subscribes to digital news services. In the U.S., 21% of respondents indicate that they pay for online news.

In contrast, in European markets like Germany and the United Kingdom, which offer high-quality free news options, subscription rates are lower at 11% and 9%, respectively. The variations highlight the interplay between market conditions, consumer preferences, and economic factors influencing online news payment.

The research identifies a combination of five factors that drive news subscribers:

• access to distinctive and high-quality news and analysis
• alignment with the brand’s values or political perspective
• a commitment to supporting quality journalism
• a premium user experience
• the inclusion of lifestyle features, puzzles, and games

The U.S. news market is notable for its news loyalists. Approximately 47% of news subscribers say that they do so because to align with specific journalists or the viewpoints of news brands. The U.S. also stands out as one of the countries with a significant portion of its population donating to news organizations, accounting for 4% of the U.S. sample. This contribution includes paying podcasters, YouTube channels, and established brands like NPR and Vox Media.

The report highlights three phases that subscribers often undergo, from interest and intent to subscribe to retention and loyalty.

1. Subscription triggers: The first phase is a fundamental interest in news. This and other influences often trigger a subscription, including family influence, life-stage changes, enticing promotional offers, etc.
2. Building habits: The second phase includes engaging new subscribers during their initial 90 days through newsletters, podcasts, and personalization to build daily forming habits.
3. Maintain loyalty: The last phase is when subscribers develop loyalty to their chosen outlet and consider it their trusted source for information.

Changing payment methods

The way people subscribe to online news is evolving, with 46% of subscribers opting for ongoing digital-only subscriptions. Combined print and digital packages account for 28% of subscriptions, while 34% report someone else pays or it’s bundled as part of broader service packages (e.g., TV, broadband, or mobile).

Additionally, 12% of paying respondents report making one-off or ongoing donations to news services in the past year. These diverse payment methods reflect the changing expectations and preferences of news consumers.

Subscriber demographics 

While most paying subscribers are older, the willingness to pay for online news is similar across age groups. However, younger individuals are likelier to have subscriptions paid for by someone else or make smaller donations.

Interestingly, 60% of paying subscribers are men, and a significant majority (79%) have medium to high household incomes. They tend to have received higher levels of formal education and lean more towards left-leaning political affiliations, especially in the U.S.

Consumer preferences, market dynamics, and evolving subscription models shape the willingness to pay for online news. As the digital news landscape evolves, publishers acknowledge the affordability gap and are crafting solutions in response. They look for ways to remain relevant by partnering and packaging all-access bundles, extending trial periods, and flexible renewal pricing to demonstrate value and commitment.

The post More people are paying for news worldwide appeared first on Digital Content Next.

The quote from the FT focus group was so powerful that eight years on it still propels many initiatives across departments to reach and engage a more diverse audience. From establishing an Audience Diversity team to running more inclusive marketing campaigns, FT has been working hard to resonate with the increasingly growing number of women in leadership positions across finance, business, politics and many other industries. Along the way, we’ve learned a great deal.

During the DCN Subscription Innovation Day held last week in New York, Daisy Donald, a principal consultant at FT’s media consultancy arm, FT Strategies, talked about some of the findings from these efforts and we share some of those here. 

But we also decided to go beyond suggestions and guidelines at FT Strategies and developed a tool called FT Diversify that can help any media organization in its efforts to diversify its reporting, sourcing, and its audience. FT Diversify is a machine learning tool incorporated into the regular editorial workflow that counts gender imbalances in content and gives actionable recommendations for making the journalism more representative. And the implementation of this tool has also taught us lessons worth sharing. 

Why is being representative so important for audience diversity?

Unfortunately, not a lot has changed in making media coverage more equal since 2015. Current numbers from the Gender Equality Tracker show that men represent over two-thirds of all names and pronouns in U.S. media. 

Luba Kassova and Richard Addy’s research suggests that the lack of representation also translates into a news gender consumption gap: 60.1% of visits to the top 48 news websites were made by men. That marks a missed opportunity – not only in being socially equitable but also commercially prudent. News outlets are missing out on lots of visitors and subscribers that come from underrepresented segments. And this goes beyond gender into race, socioeconomic background, age, and more. 

What can we do to analyze & increase representation?

During the session at DCN’s members-only event, FT Strategies’ Donald shared a few tips to address this: “the crux of it is a deep understanding of what segments of underrepresented audiences want, rallying behind that as an organization and having the motivation and diverse talent to translate that knowledge into journalism, products and experiences that these people are looking for.” 

The way to achieve that is through feedback mechanisms that open up conversations with your readers. For example, ask yourselves: Can we create a survey on the home page? Can we bring them into the newsroom for a visit? Can our reporters talk to women readers to hear what pieces they really enjoyed? Can we do more to encourage women to participate in wider discussions such as in the comment sections?

It goes without saying that simply collecting that information isn’t going to change much. With our ‘Diversify’ product, we connect data on reporting with consumption data to produce a dashboard with statistics as well as actionable recommendations and next steps generated by its algorithms.

Would knowing what pieces resonate well with women and publishing more of those increase their engagement with your journalism and brand? Would having more women be featured as authors, sources and in images lead to an increase in women readers? From our experience at the FT and working with other publishers we believe the answer is a resounding yes.  

We have also found that it is important to think beyond just the topics that women are viewing in order to avoid stereotyping. It’s more impactful to supplement that with information on what platforms and channels and in what formats women consume these articles. Writers and editors must also always be sure to consider the why. 

During our collaboration with a Finnish publisher we created a dashboard that showed similar information to the FT Diversify tool: number of women in photos, bylines and quotes and viewership and time on page per topic, platform and format. We found out that there is a shortage of women writers in certain verticals and that women readers were viewing a lot more content on climate change than men. Our feedback mechanisms revealed that women were often short on time, juggling a few activities at once, and preferred a more informal, relaxed tone of reporting. 

In order to solve those “problems” we experimented with a newsletter on climate change written by a group of women journalists on rotation, sharing their favorite climate stories from the week in a concise and informal way. The result was 6% more women subscribers to that newsletter compared to others in the short space of two weeks.

This shows that giving instant access to feedback and easy-to-digest data to journalists can be really powerful. It may not completely transform commissioning decisions or how reporting is done. However, it does nudge content creators to think more inclusively and focus on different formats, topics, and conversations. We have seen firsthand how this leads to better engagement and increases the impact of their journalism. 

About the author

Rumyana is a manager at FT Strategies, and has worked with large media & publishing companies across Europe. She designed the Google News Initiative Audience diversity programme, and also has experience in content strategy, newsroom evolution and engagement tactics. She was recently part of the Financial Times’ Audience Engagement team supporting their audience diversity ambition to increase the amount of engaged women subscribers.

The post Reaching more women with news: lessons on gender representation from the FT  appeared first on Digital Content Next.