1.
Editorial experimentation
How to develop & refine your digital audience strategy
Everdeen Mason
Senior audience editor
@EverdeenMason

2.
Story Audience
Graphics
Photo
Text
Video
Audio
TV
News-
paper
Radio

3.
Story Audience
Graphics
Photo
Text
Video
Audio
Email
Alerts
Apps
Podcasts
Website
TV
News-
paper
Radio

4.
Story
AudienceGraphics
Photo
Text Video
Audio
AR &
VR
Algorith-
mic
Email
Alerts
Apps
Pod-
casts
Website
TV
News-
paper
Radio
Twitte
r
Flipboard
Viber
Twitch
Instagram
Snapchat
Discover
Google
Reddit
YouTube
Facebook

5.
News
happens
Write
&
Edit
Visuals Put online
Layout
for print
Post on
FB & TW

6.
News
happens
Write
&
Edit
Visuals Put online
Layout
for print
Post on
FB & TW
Who is
interested
Can we be first?
If not, what next?
Is it best told
visually?
Where do the people
interested get info?How will people navigate
To this on our site?
When should I
post?
Should I do
updates?

7.
The Audience Embed
Team

8.
Hypotheses Experiment Measuremen
t1. Critical analysis of YouTube
channels as if they were TV shows
can appeal to the broadest
audience.
2. Search-term focused listicles will
have a broader audience than more
personally curated lists, but the
curated social-based lists will have
more engagement.
3. People want to have YouTube
content curated outside the
algorithm.
4. The form of the curation will
increase engagement, and/or scale
traffic.
We will select a collection of
YouTube channels to create
a “wiki”-type network of
articles that are
interconnected via links. The
channels should be of
varying size and topics.
• SEO keyword rankings
• Recirculation rates
• Total & subscriber
Non-scrolling pageviews
• Referrer instances by platform
• Percent of uniques and NSPVs
from subscribers
• Subscription conversions
• Amount of pages a unique
reader consumes of this type
of story
• Applicable data from
Idea: How can cover YouTube for viewers?

9.
Creating the editorial
Step 1: Find the right idea
Step 2: Interrogate the idea
Step 3: Form your hypotheses
Step 4: How will you measure this?
Step 5: Take stock of your resources
Step 6: Execute!

10.
The sweet
spot
Existing Audience New
Audience
On brand
Valuable to specific
communities
High
engagement
Capitalize on trends
Easily accessible
Has universal appeal

11.
Important questions for editors
•Are we hoping to engage with current readers, or hoping to
acquire new ones?
•Where do we think new readers are learning about said
topic/idea?
•Do you think the readers you want, want said topic/idea?
•Why should readers get this content from us instead of other
channels or competitors?
•Whose coverage on in this area do you find most interesting?
•How does this fit into your section/organization’s overall
strategy?
•What are you hoping to learn from an editorial experiment?

12.
How to make your hypotheses

13.
• Omniture
• Google Analytics
• Chartbeat
• Crowdtangle
How will you test this? You’ll have to love analytics.

14.
The Resources
Content resources: Do you need to make new
stories or can you look at things you’ve already
done?
Distribution resources: Where can you find
pools of readers to test this?

15.
Hypotheses ResourcesMeasuremen
t
Plan & Execute
Idea
Content plan

16.
Ask
M
eAnything
Everdeen Mason
Senior audience editor
@EverdeenMason