This document summarizes the state of the digital media industry based on a presentation given by Jody Brannon at AEJMC in 2012. Some key trends highlighted include the continued growth of mobile platforms, partnerships between media companies and technology firms, efforts to streamline workflows and embrace new skills in newsrooms, and the need to provide engaging experiences for audiences across multiple platforms and devices. Questions are also posed about best practices for allocating resources, using social media effectively, and how the shift to mobile advertising will impact revenue models.

1. State of the Industry
Prepared for AEJMC
Chicago 2012
Jody Brannon, Ph.D.
ONA Board Member & Treasurer
ONA Education Committee Chair
Editor, The Next America on National Journal
nationaljournal.com/thenextamerica

2. This presentation posted to …
bit.ly/ona-aej-12

3. Join the digital evolution
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journalists.org

8. Trends from ONA
• Mobile, mobile, mobile*
• Partnerships*
• Moderation/keeping to scale*
• Wrestling with visualization & graphics*
• “We really mean it this time!” Streamlining
workflow and embracing skillsets in newsrooms =
maturation of digital processes
• Second screens (TV and tablets/phones)
* = on list from 2010 “State of the Industry” panel

9. Questions?
• As news orgs seek to grow audience, what are
the best practices for allocating resources
between mobile, online and legacy
(newspaper/television) coverage? automate
• Best way to use social media to drive
audience? speed/clone talents:
Twitter, FB, YouTube, Tumblr, Pinterst…
• And if advertising is rapidly migrating from web
to mobile, what does that mean for news orgs
still struggling to monetize online? Rapid? hmm
• Who’s innovating? Size & $ (NYT, Y!, Daily)

10. State of the Media Online Findings
 Reputation matters: 2/3 of top 25 news
sites = traditional media companies
Top 25 news sites = 342M avg. monthly
uniques, up 17%
Top 5 news sites = 7-11% of total traffic
from mobile
8.6% of news site traffics from social, up
+56% since ’09 (google says it’s higher)
Source: StateoftheMedia.org

11. “The promiscuity of our audiences is only
going to dramatically increase”
“I feel newsrooms have to pivot from just focusing on
creating amazing content to creating amazing
experiences,” he said.
Narisetti said the user experience will determine
success in digital news.
“The winners and losers are separated at the
intersection of content and technology,” he said. “You Raju Narisetti
need great content and to be managing technology WSJ.com
to create an amazing experience for users who can go
anywhere they want. The experience is what will make
them stay and come back.”
Poynter

13. “The basic axiom of legacy
media is that they are trading
legacy dollars for digital dimes.”
75-85% of traffic from Search or Social
15-15% from bookmarks/destination
Source: StateoftheMedia.org

14. “News organizations now find
themselves both partnering
with and competing against
large technology-based
organizations that are far better
financed and boast greater
engineering knowledge.”
Source: StateoftheMedia.org

21. Maximizing Social
Reach
• Best time for Tweets is 5 p.m.
• Improve CT% with 1 to 4 tweets per hour
• 65% higher engagement before noon on FB
• 3 hours is avg lifetime of a FB post
• Only 30-40% of fans see any given FB post
• <10% of FB fans see a page
• CTR is higher on weekends
• Best time to Tweet is noon-6 p.m.
• Saturday is best day to share on FB
• FB’s spikes are at noon and after 7 pm
Science of Social Timing

25. IMPROVED
ENGAGEMENT
album > 180%
WHEN A
FACEBOOK picture > 120%
POST video > 100%
INCLUDES
VISUALS…
CT% jumps
JeffBullas.com

27. VISUAL POWER
MDG Advertising

28. 3 Content Types That Drive
Most Interaction on Facebook
• Photos
• Quotes
• Infographics
JeffBullas.com

31. “Upworthy, a news aggregation site
that … is serious news built for a
spreadable age, with super clicky
headlines and a visually oriented
user interface.”
David Carr, NYT, July 9

34. 8 Questions helping to
define
the future of journalism
1. Addressing content architecture
2. Evolving the narrative form
3. Creating the Reporter’s Notebook 2.0
4. Rethinking organizational workflow
5. Exploring computational journalism
6. Leveraging search and social
Richard Gingras
7. Rethinking site design
Head of News Products
Google
8. Shifting to a culture of constant product innovation
Neiman Labs

35. Acquisitions & Evolution
• Turner/CNN/SI buy Bleacher Report: 4
founders > $175M
• FB buys Instragram for $1B
• WashPost buys Digg
• WebMedia Brands buys Lost Remote
• Digital First’s Central Curation Team
(Project Thunderdome)
• Gannett doing something similar

37. Miscellaneous Tools & Such
• AnMap.com: States and countries: quickly indicating particulars
• Measure of America: demographics
• Media Bistro’s 10,000 Words: 7 Innovate Online Maps
• If It Were My Home.com: compare New England to other nation
• Visual.ly: Make complex graphics
• The Daily Viz: Good for exploring ideas
• Offerings from tool session: sync.in/unity12
• Net Magazine: 50 Free Web Design Tools
• More offered frequently at ONA FB group for educators

38. Sample Digital/J- Job Titles*
• Digital Team Leader
• Digital Media Project Manager
• Digital Content Producer
• Website Editor
• Social Media Specialist
• Backpack Journalist
• Print and Online Reporters
• Mobile Product Manager
* Not all entry level

39. Digitizing Is Getting Easier
resumes websites
•re.vu •weebly.com
•flavors.me •jigsy.com
•doid.com •google sites
•chi.mp •wordpress
•visualize.me •typepad
•visualcv.com •codiqa
“insanely fast mobile prototyping”

40. Whatcha Readin’?
• NeimanLab.org*
• PaidContent.org > moco.org
• TechCrunch.com
• MediaShift.org
• JimRomenesko.com and MediaWire.org
• IWantMedia.com
• Trove* > better than reader.google.com
• Zite* > favored over Flipboard
* favorites

42. Questions?
journalists.org
twitter.com #onaedu
facebook.com/ona#!/onastudents
jbrannon <at> journalists.org