Tags containing: "news consumption"

Digital news is a mixed media experience

September 8, 2017 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

Most adults today use a combination of different sources and platforms to get their news reports the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2017. The global report is based on a survey of more than 70,000 people in 36 markets, with added qualitative research in many of the countries. Social media is a big part of this media mix, as are TV, websites and apps. In fact, two-thirds of social media news users in the United States also watch television news (67%) and two-thirds also visit mainstream websites or apps (66%). Further, only a quarter (24%) of the respondents think social media does a good job in separating fact from fiction, compared to 40% for the news media.

News brands struggle with their branding on distributed and social platforms. Reuters tracked over 2,000 respondents in the UK to see if they could remember their path to a news story found on Facebook, Google, or others. Only 37% of respondents could recall the name of the news brand when coming from search and 47% when coming from social.

Trust Issues

Trust in the news media varies greatly across countries. According to the report, less than half the population (43%) trust the news media. Trust in the news is highest in Finland (62%) and lowest in Greece and South Korea (23% each). There appears to be a strong correlation between consumer distrust in the media and perceived political bias, especially in countries with high political polarity like the U.S where trust in the news media registers at 38%.

The news also appears to be impacting the consumers’ emotional psyche. Close to a third of respondents (29%) state they often or sometimes avoid the news. Many say the news negatively impacts their mood and heightens concern over their inability to rely on the news to be true.

Additional findings:

Outside the U.S. and UK, growth in social media for news is leveling off many markets. In its place, messaging apps that are more private and do not algorithmically filter content are gaining in popularity.
Mobile access for news is increasing in many countries. Mobile news notifications have grown significantly in the last year, especially in the US (+8 percentage points), South Korea (+7), and Australia (+4). This has many news publishers working with third party distribution like Facebook Instant Articles and Google AMP for quick efficiencies for content loading on mobile devices.
Mobile news aggregators show usage growth, notably Apple News, and Snapchat Discover for younger audiences. Both have doubled YoY usage with their target audience.
Smartphones are now as important for news inside the home as outside with 46% of consumers using their smartphones to access news in bed.
Voice-activated digital assistants like the Amazon Echo are emerging as a new platform for news, outpacing smart watches in the US and UK.
Overall, YoY growth of digital news subscriptions across all demos, especially among those under 35 years old. Specifically, online news subscriptions in the U.S. grew from 9 to 16% subscriptions. Across all countries, approximately one in ten consumers (13%) pay for online news.
Ad-blocking growth has leveled off on desktop at 21% overall and is only 7% on smartphones. Interestingly, in some countries, more than half state they have temporarily disabled their ad-blocker for news in countries like Poland and Denmark (57% each) and the United States (52%).

Add Value

Melissa Bell, Publisher and co-founder, Vox Media comments on this analysis “if we work to rebuild trust with our audiences, we may find our way to more stable, significant businesses.” She’s identify a few key questions for publishers to think about and address as they continue to provide quality news content across platforms.

What is currently not being offered to audiences? How can content appear essential to them?
Can the sense of community be recreated for audiences around the country – or the world?
How do publishers help audiences seek knowledge instead of simply publishing information?
How can publishers help audiences feel less anxious with today’s news content?

Importantly, publishers need to solve problems for their audiences. Digital news publishers’ focus on quality, transparency, and accountability will allow audience trust and engagement to follow.

Industry-Research

Strategies used by digital-native news publishers to drive user engagement

August 23, 2017 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

Getting ones’ news digitally is not just for millennials—it’s the norm these days. In fact, nine in 10 U.S adults get their news digitally either via desktop or mobile. We’ve also seen strong digital native brands, those originally founded on the web like Vox Media or Huffington Post, emerge as leaders in the news marketplace. The new Pew Research Center research looks at 36 digital native news outlets that averaged at least 10 million monthly unique visitors in Q4 2016. The analysis provides an excellent snapshot of the digital native news industry’s audience strategies to increase outreach and engagement.

Usage and engagement

Overall, digital native news outlets are performing well. Monthly unique visitors for the 36 sites for the digital native news outlets increased 12% in 4Q 2016. Users also spent a healthy 2.4 minutes per average visit.

The use of digital native news apps is an important part of audience strategies. Close to two-thirds (61%) of the highest traffic digital-native news outlets have apps available for either iOS or Android. Mobile compatibility is an important part of their overall strategy and user engagement. In fact, 42% of these new outlets have apps supporting both iOS and Android.

User outreach is key to building and sustaining engagement. Almost all digital native publishers (97%) offer newsletters. Three-quarters produce podcasts and 61% have comment sections on their articles to promote consumer feedback. Digital news outlets also rely on social media to engage their users: All of those covered have Facebook pages and Twitter accounts. Almost all have Instagram accounts (92%) and are on YouTube (97%). Less than 25% have a Snapchat channel or account.

Revenue growth

Digital advertising continues to grow as a proportion of total advertising revenue, a trend that Pew points out is driven in large part by growth in advertising on mobile devices. Interestingly, based on a Pew Research Center survey conducted earlier this year, more than eight-in-ten (85%) U.S. adults now get news on a mobile device compared to 72% just a year ago.

The report cites eMarketer estimates that digital advertising grew to $72 billion in 2016. Mobile advertising revenues accounted for 65% or $47 billion of the digital ad sales revenue. Desktop advertising revenue on the other hand continue to decline, now at 35% of total ad revenue. And, as ever, the report emphasizes the dominance of Facebook and Google in both banner and mobile display ad revenue.

Building a strong native digital news brands includes a platform native approach aligning publisher, platform and consumer strategies. Digital native publishers should experiment to find their unique voice and consumer connection. Importantly, the strength of a native digital news brand is deeply rooted in an engaged reader relationship.

Industry-Research

People will pay for news, research finds. But they expect fairness and accountability.

June 28, 2017 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

The number of people using social media to find news is leveling off according to the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2017, the largest comparative study of news consumption. The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) surveyed more than 70,000 people in 36 countries, on issues of trust, changing business models, and the role of platforms.

Unsurprisingly, mobile is a key access point for news. However, consumers’ usage of mobile alerts has risen 8 percentage points in the U.S, +7 in Korea, and +4 in Australia. The report finds that smartphones are an important access point for news inside the home as well as on the go. More smartphone users now access news in bed using their smartphone (46%) than when commuting to work.

On a global level, Reuters Institute reports that users are also looking to private messaging apps instead of social media (i.e. What’s App) in Malaysia (51%), Brazil (46%), and Spain (32%).

It is interesting that video doesn’t appear to be a big influencer in online news. People are only consuming a marginal amount of video on news websites. This is true as well for younger audiences and in countries where social media is a bigger part of the media mix.

Other key findings include:

Only a quarter (24%) of respondents think social media does a good job in separating fact from fiction, compared to 40% for the news media.
Trust (or lack of it) in the news of has a wide range depending on the country. The highest was found in Finland at 62% and the lowest in Greece and Koreas at 23% each.
Consumers are tired of the negative effects of news on their mood and attitude. In fact, almost a third of respondents (29%) avoid the news.
A quarter of respondents (24%) report that they regularly use ad-blockers, which is consistent with last year’s findings. Importantly, close to half (43%) of those with ad blockers agreed to temporarily turn off their ad-blocker to access a specific news sites.
Voice-activated digital devices like the Amazon Echo and Google Home are rising new platform for news.

Paying for News

Across all countries, only around one in ten (13%) pay for online news. Digital news subscriptions registered strong growth in the U.S., from 9% to 16% of the sample. Reuters Institute reports encouraging findings with regards to the growth of digital subscriptions. The report shows a strong correlation between consumers paying for online video services like Netflix and those paying for digital news subscriptions. Once consumers step away from the concept that all digital content is free, they are much more likely to pay for news.

Critical Qualities

Reuters Institute identifies transparency, fairness, and accountability as critical components for news publishers today. In the report, Melissa Bell, Publishers and Co-founder of Vox Media said: “If we work to rebuild trust with our audiences, we may find our way to more stable, significant businesses.” Bell also commented on the importance of a strong news branding and voice, “We have to know who we are and what we are trying to do, so our audience can come to know us and what to expect from us.”

Industry-Research

Consumers crave news, but what satisfies their appetite?

July 13, 2016 DCN

Both the immediacy and the mobility of news has anchored it as an important part of today’s life. In fact, more than seven in ten adults follow national and local news somewhat or very closely and 65% follow international news with similar regularity. Digital access appears to fuel American’s hunger for news, according to a new report from Pew Research Center, which conducted a study in association with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. For example, at least a full 81% get at least some news through websites, apps or social networking sites.

Some key Findings:

Friends and family are important sources for news, even though consumers still rely on news organizations as their primary source. Trust in news reporting is an overarching problem however today’s online news consumers tend to place as much trust in the information they get from news organizations as they do in information coming from family and friends. Still, online news organizations play the larger role: 36% of online news consumers often get news from news organizations compared with about half as many who do so from people with whom they are close (15%).

Consumers are more cautious about news coming through social media. Close to two-thirds of U.S adults (62%) get news on these social platforms, however just more than one-third (34%) trust the information a lot/some.

Just as many consumers are loyal as are not loyal to their news sources. Just over three-quarter of respondents (76%) reported turning to the same sources over and over again. Importantly, consumers do pay attention to their digital sources. Among those who got their news three or more times from a link in a given week, at least 70% remembered the source half the time.

Consumer believe strong media bias exists in news reporting. Close to three-quarters of consumers (74%) feel that the news media favors one side. Another 75% of consumers credit the news organization for keeping leaders accountable and honest.

The majority of consumers prefer to watch news on TV. When asked where consumers get their news, 57% reported TV, 38% stated online and only 20% said they get their news from newspapers. As one would expect, only 5% of younger consumers, ages 18-29s, often got news from a print newspaper in contrast to close to half (48%) of adults, age 65.

News remains an important part of public life with digital news consumption becoming increasingly mobile. As more people get their news online, it’s important to distinguish between those who seek out the news online versus those who stumble upon it. This is an important consumer distinction as news sites look to market to the news consumer.

Industry-Research

News sites face strong market challenges

June 22, 2016 DCN

Digital publishers face three market challenges today that are triggering the re-examination of business strategies: 1) an increase in consumption of distributed content, 2) a surge in mobile traffic, and 3) growth in adoption of of ad blocking software. In order to better understand these market shifts and their impact on news consumption the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism commissioned a multi-country study, the Reuters Institute Digital News Report, in February 2016.

Digital news publishers, in particular, are rethinking business models as social platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, are now viewed as major news resources for consumers, especially among millennials. In fact, half (51%) reported they use social media as a source of news each week. Around one in ten (12%) stated it is their main source. Further, the percentage of U.S. consumers subscribing to online news outlets has declined from 11% in 2015 vs. 9% in 2016. Many companies are thinking about taking down their paywalls in an effort to attract more users.

While personalization is often a positive experience, consumers are concerned with the personalization of their news content. Personalized content and social media applications often select news stories built on algorithms which are based on a consumer’s reading history, what his/her friends are reading and the sharing, the popularity and recency of an article. Respondents raised concerns with the algorithms selecting their news stories. In fact, six in 10 worry that personalized news applications change the nature of story selection and that they miss challenging viewpoints (60% and 59%, respectively). And half (49%) are concerned their privacy may be compromised.

In addition, the shift to mobile directly attributed to the increased use of smartphones to access news and the decreased use of desktops. Demographically, younger consumers prefer mobile for news access while older consumers look to desktop and tablet. Across multiple countries, over half (53%) reported that they use a smartphone to access news. Interestingly, consumers who report mainly using their smartphones to access news stories, do so by entering social media sites versus a branded website or app. Apps have become an impactful tool to send alerts and notifications to attract consumers and to bring them more regularly to the branded website.

The consumer adoption of ad blocking software is a most challenging problem for digital publishers, especially for those heavily dependent on advertising revenue. Of those that currently use an ad-blocker, the majority do so on a desktop with only about 8% do so on mobile. In addition, about one-third of consumers in Germany, UK, and the U.S. plan to install an ad-blocker on their smartphones in the next 12 months.

In the U.S. the key reasons for consumers using ad blocking software included:

I was fed up with the volume and distracting nature of advertisements in general, 68%
I dislike ads that follow me around from one site to another (privacy concerns, 55%
To improve the speed at which pages load, 50%
To save battery life, 13%
So I don’t use as much data on my mobile phone plan, 10%

As digital news publishers adapt to the changing marketplace, it’s important to note that consumers still want and value traditional news brands. The Reuters Institute Digital News Report speaks to digital news brands needing to clearly brand their high-quality content and provide a positive audience experience. Further, news brands need to find a balance between destination and distribution and continue to build their brand equity in order to evolve and continue to monetize their content.

Industry-Research

How newspapers can capitalize on consumers’ content demand(s)

March 8, 2016 Research Team—DCN

According to the cliché: Content is king. Yet while an ever-expanding cadre of “content companies” such as Netflix, Spotify, and Apple are profiting mightily, newspapers continue to struggle. MECLABS Institute surveyed 900 people who earn at least $40,000 and spend at least three hours a week consuming print or digital news to explore what newspaper publishers can do to transform their customer experience in order to profit from consumers’ growing hunger for digital content experiences. Using the results of this survey as well as expert interviews, the report provides insights in how to increase the probability of converting the many readers who are open, but have not yet committed, to digital subscription news products.

The report, Newspaper Paywalls and Digital Subscriptions, is part of of the MECLABS Institute Executive Series. The Newspaper Paywalls and Digital Subscriptions report offers four key insights, which are explored in depth:

Key insight #1: Because digital subscriptions lack a perceived product-level value proposition, consumers have commoditized digital news content

The reason most readers do not purchase a digital news subscription is not because they do not understand the value of your content, but rather, they do not yet understand the value of a digital subscription.

Key insight #2: News consumers have been conditioned to expect a seamless digital experience

Poor user interface design and user experience may be negatively impacting the perception of your digital subscription.

Key insight #3: Exclusive content is the primary motivation for subscribers

Subscribers are motivated most by exclusive content—like arts/culture and local news—rather than other kinds of news topics.

Key insight #4: Customers are waiting for you to ask them to engage

Customers are more willing to engage with newspapers than you might think

Consumers’ frustration with paywall usability and advertising

Industry-Research

The majority of smartphone users are still getting news from traditional media sources

March 2, 2016 Research Team—DCN

Nearly three-quarters (72%) of adult smartphone owners in the U.S. reported that they still get their news and information frequently or very frequently from at least one traditional source like the television news or the printed newspapers.

The latest 2015 RJI Mobile Media News Consumption Survey also reported the local television news as the most popular “old” media source with more than half (55%) of smartphone respondents saying they frequently or very frequently used in the past week. Network television news ranked second at 49%, followed by printed local newspapers at 36%. While the percentages of each “old” media source varied, usage of at least one “old” media source was relatively consistent across all demographics:

67% of adults 18-24;
75% of adults
69% of adults 35-44, 79% of adults 45-54;
69% of adults 55-64; and
70% of adults 65 plus used at least one “old” media source.

Additionally, just under one-third (33%) of adult smartphone owners said they had followed news stories frequently or very frequently on their smartphones in the past seven days. Smartphone owners are also actively engaged in social networking. In fact, 49% reported they interacted on social media platforms and 24% stated they shared news stories using their smartphones.

The report provides a good understanding of consumer preference and the power of a multi-platform news operation, offering both quality news and information and the ability for a more dynamic interaction.

Innovation

NewsON: delivering local news anywhere, anytime

February 19, 2016 Michelle Manafy, Editorial Director – DCN

A fortuitous result of the ever-proliferating sources for news has been that Americans are consuming more of it than they have in a long time. And the majority of Americans—nine out of ten—follow news about their local area very closely or somewhat closely. However, the proportion of Americans who get news from traditional media platforms—television, radio and print—has been stable or declining in the last few years (though for local news, television still holds its own).

Along with a glut of “news” content we’re also seeing content consumption habits evolve: more and more people consume news on mobile—which is not simply a result of the popularity of mobile devices, but reflective of consumers’ anytime, on-demand expectations. This proliferation of news sources and changing consumption patterns has created issues for content companies and consumers alike. Certainly, it increases competition. But it also causes quality issues, as it can be difficult to find trusted and reliable information, particularly for an audience unlikely to sit down to watch the evening news every night at six.

However, broadcast media veterans are not standing idly by. NewsON—launched by ABC Owned Television Station Group, Cox Media Group, Hearst Television, Media General, Hubbard Broadcasting Inc., and Raycom Media (with Sinclair Broadcast Group joining as a partner)—was founded to provide local news to mobile consumers nationwide. As CEO Louis Gump put it, “In an age where fragmentation is common, we believe creating something that makes it easy for viewers to find trusted news brings great consumer benefit.”

The NewsON app provides access to live and on-demand local newscasts and local news clips. The free, ad-supported app features flexible navigation that encourages discovery, offering instant access to broadcast-quality video. It also enables people to search by market via an interactive map and for curated content that links coverage of breaking news events from multiple stations. NewsON is available for Apple iPhone and iPad, Android phone and tablet, and on the Roku platform.

While many of the broadcasters with whom NewsON works have individual apps and make much of their content available digitally, Gump points out that the app has the advantage of offering information from multiple sources within a given local market, which allows consumers to dig in on topics of interest. It also allows people anywhere to find locally-produced video on a given topic, which is likely to offer insights and depth not available from national sources. As examples, Gump sites the New Hampshire Presidential primary and weather events such as the January 2016 blizzard that affected several east coast states, with distinct coverage being offered in local markets.

For the broadcasters that work with NewsON—120 stations in 92 markets, covering 76% of the U.S. population—Gump says NewsON delivers expanded audience reach across all demographics. While Gump would not comment on specific financial terms, he says “the economics at NewsON are weighted heavily in favor of the stations.”

A third benefit, which Gump describes as “kind of extra credit,” is shared learning. “Any TV station group that doesn’t have a strong digital offering and isn’t investing in innovation probably has some big problems,” he said, also pointing out that NewsON provides additional opportunities for experimentation and shared learning among participants. He’s seen confirmation that there’s an increasing desire to time-shift news viewing, but also sees behaviors that debunk the popular notion that people only want to watch short-form video.

NewsON, says Gump, was founded on three main principles: “Do the right thing; serve our customers; and move forward.” As he points out, people are looking for content that meets their needs, on their terms and it is essential to focus on those needs and expectations—with a consistent future-focus. And to that end, he says we can expect to see more partnerships this year, with the goal of increasing local content offerings in existing markets and adding new markets to the mix, as well as significant product updates and evolved advertising capabilities.

Industry-Research

‘Traditional sources’ dominate UK news consumers’ online favorites

December 23, 2015 DCN

Ofcom’s 2015 research examines news consumption across the four main platforms: television, radio, print and online. The report details various findings relating to the consumption of news: the sources and platforms used, the perceived importance of different outlets for news, attitudes to individual news sources, reasons to follow news, the use of local news, and news consumption in United Kingdom nations.

Among the key takeaways:

Two-thirds of adults say they use TV for news, compared to three-quarters in 2014
Those aged 55+ are more likely than those aged 16-24 to use TV, newspapers and radio for news consumption, while the opposite is true for the internet/ apps
Total hours of national and international news viewing have decreased since 2013
The reach of national newspapers has decreased considerably in the past ten years, with reach among all adults decreasing by more than 27 percentage points since 2005

According to Ofcom’s findings, Online news consumption varies considerably by age, socio-economic group and gender.

‘Traditional’ news sources are used most for online news, but social media is also popular:

When Ofcom combined the various types of online news source, those from ‘traditional’ news media such as TV, radio, and newspapers are used most (by 64% of online news users), while ‘digital first’ news sources (excluding social media, search engines and blogs) are used by 28%. Ten per cent of online news users use only social media sites for news, rising to 16% of those aged 16-24.

Routes to online news vary: the most popular way is to use an app to go direct to the home page of a news provider:

Of those who use the internet or apps for news, around half (51%) say they use the website or apps of TV and radio companies to get news (figure 6.1). More than two in five (43%) respondents say they use social media sites. This is followed by 37% who say they use search engines, 28% who use websites or apps of newspapers, 17% who use websites or apps of news aggregation sites, 16% who use websites or apps of online news organizations, 6% who use websites or apps of news magazines and 5% using blogs.

Advertising | Industry-Research

Reuters’ Digital News Report Finds Social, Mobile on the Rise but Video Flat

June 17, 2015 DCN

The Reuters Institute 2015 Digital News Report’s global tracking study (20,000 news consumers in 12 countries) offers robust findings on consumer news consumption.

The U.S. country-specific data (2,295 news consumers) identifies Online—which includes social media—as the main news source (43%) compared to TV (40%), Social (11%) and Newspaper (5%).

Among Reuters’ key findings:

In terms of accuracy, TV is still viewed as best (36%) source for accuracy versus Online (30%).
Overall, U.S. news consumers are still skeptical of the news media at large – 32% trust in general and 56% trust my sources.
The paradigm for access shows Smartphones as essential for news consumption – at 41% from 31% in 2014.
In fact 26% of U.S. news consumers claim their smartphone to be their main device for accessing news. In contrast, tablet usage at 21% only grew 2% from 2014 and only one in 10 cite as their main device to access news.
Growth in mobile news alerts doubled, 13% in 2015 from 6% in 2014.
14% of news lovers, the heaviest user group, access news content 5+ times per day.
Interestingly, video news consumption is flat at 30% compared to last year.
Top barriers to video notes “I find reading more convenient (39%)”, “I would like to watch on a bigger screen and Pre-roll ads tend to put me off (23%, respectively).”
The minority of news consumers (11%) pay for digital news access, averaging $10 (median) per month. It is important to note that just over than two-thirds (67%) report that they “would not pay whatever the price.”
Not surprisingly, social media plays an important role on how news consumers find news (35%) from 30% in 2014. In fact, 35% use social media as their starting point for news.
News consumers feel plagued by digital advertising resulting in almost half (47%) regularly using ad-blocking. As digital news try new creative ad models such as native and sponsored ads, there is concern among users of blurring the lines between editorial content with brands.

Download the full report for greater depth, a range of country-specific data and access to a great essay (page 101), “Attitudes to Sponsored and Branded Content.”