Audience lessons from the Innovation Conference

1. News
Audience
Lessons
2014
LMA
October
2014
@tbr1

2. Six
Lessons

3. 1.
Forget
demographic
stereotypes
—
most
Americans
of
all
ages
are
now
cross-­‐platform,
multi-­‐source
news
consumers

4. A
majority
of
Americans
use
“five
devices
or
technologies
…to
get
news
in
a
given
week.
The
average
American
adult
uses
four….”
-­‐
API
AP
NORC
Personal
News
Cycle
survey,
2014

5. 5
news
technologies
majorities
use
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Television
Laptop
or
computer
API
AP-­‐NORC
Media
Insight
Project
Radio
Paper
newspapers
or
magazines
Cell
phone
%
Using
Last
Week

6. And
“The
average
American
gets
news
from
between
four
and
five
different
news
gathering
sources
each
week”
-­‐
API
AP-­‐NORC
Personal
News
Cycle
survey,
2014

7. News
reporting
organizations
used
(any
technology)
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Local TV
news
National
network
news
Newspapers
24-hour TV
news
channels
Radio news
organizations
Online-only
sources
% Using Last Week

8. “Tech-­‐savvy
news
consumers
continue
to
use
traditional
platforms
as
well….
They
are
no
more
or
less
likely
than
everyone
else
to
use
print
publications,
television,
or
radio
….”
-­‐
API
AP-­‐NORC
Personal
News
Cycle
survey,
2014

9. Technology
is
a
user
behavior
…
not
a
distinct
audience

10. A
behavior,
not
an
audience
You
do
not
have
“a
mobile
audience”
Or
a
“print
audience”
You
have
readers,
audiences
who
use
mobile,
and
many
other
devices,
based
on
need
and
situation

11. “Not
only
do
people
consume
news
from
many
different
devices,
nearly
half
say
they
have
no
one
preferred
means
of
doing
so.”
-­‐
API
AP-­‐NORC
Personal
News
Cycle
survey,
2014

12. 2.
Topic
is
biggest
factor
determining
where
people
turn
for
news,
not
demographics.

13. People
turn
to
newspaper
media
for
some
topics:
local
news,
arts,
culture,
education
-­‐
API
AP-­‐NORC
Personal
News
Cycle
survey,
2014

14. Specialized
media
for
others:
national
sports,
celebrities,
technology,
lifestyle
-­‐
API
AP-­‐NORC
Personal
News
Cycle
survey,
2014

15. Local
TV
for
others:
traffic,
weather,
breaking
news
-­‐
API
AP-­‐NORC
Personal
News
Cycle
survey,
2014

16. People
across
generations
follow
a
wide
variety
of
topics
at
similar
levels
API
AP-­‐NORC
Media
Insight
Project

17. The
‘medium
is
not
the
message’
–
the
news
is

18. And
the
news
cycle
is
not
so
much
continuous
as
asynchronous
…
we
each
have
our
own.

19. This
is
the
era
of
The
Personal
News
Cycle.
Consumers
learn
what
they
want
on
their
own
time
and
terms…we
need
to
help
them

20. 3.
What
topics
will
you
be
great
at?

21. The
old
model
for
most
publishing
was
the
general
store
We
had
it
all…
calico,
nails,
beans,
salt
peter

22. Having
it
all
made
us
convenient
We
didn’t
think
about
building
brand
around
pillars
of
excellence.

23. But
the
web
rewards
specialization

24. Online…
…a
better
source
on
any
topic
is
potentially
always
a
click
away
And
the
growing
cross-­‐platform
user
will
find
it.

25. What
are
you
great
at?
• What
makes
you
indispensible,
that
people
cannot
get
elsewhere?
• Do
people
want
it
and
need
it?
• Do
people
recognize
you
for
it?

26. Can
you
answer
those
questions?
Do
you
know
empirically?
Or
are
you
guessing?

27. This
doesn’t
mean
abandoning
being
comprehensive.
It
means
building
brand
around
recognized
areas
of
excellence
that
are
a
reason
for
audiences
to
come
to
you
It’s
a
strategy
for
making
coverage
better
Not
just
trying
to
do
everything
you
did
before,
but
a
little
bit
worse,
as
your
resources
shrink

28. 4.
Think
about
creating
knowledge
for
audiences,
not
just
writing
news
stories
or
selling
ads

29. Knowledge,
not
just
stories…
• Is
more
audience
focused,
not
process
focused
• Helps
create
content
that
fits
how
people
use
you
on
different
technologies

30. Knowledge,
not
just
stories…
• Helps
you
rethink
coverage
holistically
– What
helps
people
on
this
topic?
– What
are
we
not
producing?
– What
new
audiences
are
affected
by
this
topic
our
content
is
not
helping,
not
reaching?

31. Knowledge,
not
just
stories…
• Helps
your
business
sell
“audiences”
not
platforms
– Focuses
your
research
and
data
around
different
audience
segments
and
needs
– Helps
you
build
“personas”
you
can
sell
to
audience
– Makes
your
CPMS
“cross
platform,”
not
mobile
or
digital
or
even
video

32. Knowledge,
not
just
stories…
• This
cross-­‐platform
sale
of
“audiences”—not
platforms-­‐-­‐is
the
key
way
publishers,
especially
new
entrants
such
as
Buzzfeed
and
Vox,
are
thinking
about
the
business

33. What
helps
citizens
on
this
topic?
• Imagine
government:
• Not:
“what
is
it
doing?”
• But:
“what
do
audiences
need?”
• That
includes
the
first
q.
but
identifies
more.

34. Knowledge,
not
just
stories…
• Encourages
initiative
(which
drives
engagement)
• Encourages
listening
(which
makes
your
journalism
smarter
and
more
useful)

35. Knowledge,
not
just
stories…
• Helps
avoid
the
tyranny
of
algorithms
• Your
criteria
for
what
you
produce
needs
to
be
more
than
what
you
guess
Facebook’s
algorithm
is
likely
to
surface

36. 5.
Embrace
the
concept
of
multiple
audiences

37. Multiple
audiences
• This
will
help
your
business
side
sell
better
solutions
to
advertisers

38. Multiple
audiences
• Think
about
a
subject
like
outdoors:
• Hikers,
bikers,
hunters,
rafters,
runners,
people
who
fish
• And
they
are
quite
distinct
audiences

39. Multiple
audiences
• Now
think
about
government:
• How
do
different
groups
or
personas
interact
with
government
• What
are
their
needs,
problems,
language?
• Multiple
audiences
leads
to
different
approaches
to
designing
coverage

40. Multiple
audiences
also
means
• Knowing
who
your
(multiple)
audiences
are,
and
to
whom
they
are
valuable
• Making
more
sophisticated
use
of
your
audience
data

41. 6.
Adopt
leadership
techniques
from
startup
companies

42. Not
all
new
ideas
are
good

43. Yikes!
That
sounds
risky

44. Study
how
others
innovate
Learn
methods
that
reduce
risk
and
increase
success
in
uncertain
environments:
• Here
are
four
of
them…just
a
sampler

45. Identifying
risk
• Consumer
risk
– Do
people
want
the
product?
• Product
risk
– Can
we
build
and
support
the
product?
• Business
risk
– Can
we
make
money
from
the
product?

46. Minimum
Viable
Product
(MVP)

47. Human
Centered
Design
• Put
the
users
at
the
center
of
the
design
process
• “Design”
is
what
it
does,
not
how
it
looks
• Don’t
ask
what
they
want
• Develop
empathy,
language,
identify
unmet
needs

48. Lean
Startup
testing
1. Define
the
assumptions
and
risks
in
a
new
product
idea
2. Set
up
easy
experiments
to
test
the
most
important
ones
(A
blog,
email
newsletter,
etc.
to
test
the
potential
audience
for
an
app)
3.
Have
a
hypothesis
about
what
will
happen
(how
many
readers
will
you
get)

49. Lean
Startup
testing…
Never
say
‘let’s
just
try
it
and
see
what
happens,’
You
won’t
learn
anything
without
learning
goals.
5.
Do
the
experiment
6.
Iterate
or
pivot
based
on
result
7.
Test
next
assumption

50. Whatever
the
method
• Set
early
‘learning
goals’
not
ROI
targets
• Use
cross-­‐functional
diverse
teams
• Let
data
determine
the
path,
not
job
titles

51. Six
Lessons
1. Consumers
mix
platforms
and
sources
2. Topic
determines
news
source
3. Build
brand
around
areas
of
excellence
4. Knowledge,
not
just
news
stories
5. Multiple
audiences
6. Learn
the
techniques
of
start
ups

52. Tom
Rosenstiel
www.americanpressinstitute.org
Tom.rosenstiel@pressinstitute.org
@tbr1
@ampress