Written By: Kelsey Lamonica
The ASNE-APME Conference[1] was held in Chicago on Monday, delivering this year’s theme of “Fast Forward.” Various editorial and marketing executives, including Amy Webb, CEO of Webbmedia Group and Tom Rosentiel, American Press Institute Executive Editor, examined the fast-shifting state of reading audiences and presented important ideas for ways in which news presses and publishers might respond. As we approach this week’s newsletter with a focus on audience and readership, we take notes from these conversations as they relate to our development as future figures in the publishing industry.
A primary distinction made during the conference was the recognition that publishing needs to be necessarily shifting from a product business to a platform business. Pointing to organizations like Buzzfeed as examples, Webb suggests that “the use of data analysis to predict user behavior” in a fast-growing trend in popular online news sites that need not go unnoticed by more heavy-hitting publishers.[2] The examination of “user behavior” allows for more topic-driven publications, which cater to more specific audience segments across platforms. And as results from a survey conducted by the American Press Institute[3] show, we’ve got to figure out some way to cater to readers when they’re using up to five different platforms daily.
In his presentation, Rosentiel emphasized the idea that publishers no longer have a ‘mobile audience’ or a ‘print audience.’[4] The lines are getting blurry, and the audiences for publishers are less distinct than they were even as recently as a year ago. Rosentiel connects this with the fact that technology has become a user behavior. With multiple sources and devices available to readers across all demographics, audiences are adapting to the broad spectrum by forming habits that allow them to maintain a tighter scope on the subjects in which they are interested. The idea is to keep things subject-oriented and to keep the subjects relevant and accessible across multiple platforms. Think “Deep Niche.”[5]
To approach this behavior, Rosentiel offers publishers and journalists “Six Lessons” to grab hold of when approaching audience trends in 2014. While these lessons were written for an audience of news publishers and editors, they very clearly translate into other types of publishing organizations and their audiences.
Lesson #1: Forget demographic stereotypes. Rosentiel points out that most Americans of all ages are now cross-platform, multisource consumers. To return to the API survey referenced above, most of us readers are checking five sources daily. Do we want to also talk about how many devices we’re using to do it? Fire the stereotype, hire the habits.
Lessons #2 & #3: Topic is the biggest factor determining where people turn for news. To translate this to a broader scope of publishing: The medium is not the message—the subject is. Publishers can interpret this as the all-important mode of relevancy. Pay attention to your subject material. Rosentiel poses the question we should always be asking: What topics will you be great at? Decide, devise, and specialize.
Lesson #4: Think about creating knowledge for audiences, not just writing news stories. Taking this out of journalism and into all types of publishing, think about creating products that are audience focused.
Lesson #5: Embrace the concept of multiple audiences. Who doesn’t love diverse audiences? Like them, love them, wrap your arms around them with everything you do.
Lesson #6: Adopt leadership techniques from startup companies. Rosentiel ends all business, discussing practices we as publishers can adopt in order to better adapt to these rapidly shifting audiences. He looks at the benefits of controlled risk, human centered design, and startup testing as potential strategies that could be very worth our time and management.[6]
As audiences shift, publishers need to ready themselves to shift alongside them. The key players are flexibility and relevancy, and keeping a tight grip on who your audience is, where their sources are, and why they are reading you.
[1] American Society of News Editors-Associated Press Media Editors Conference, 2014. Conference Schedule.
[2] Webb’s entire PowerPoint Presentation on behalf of Webbmedia Group can be found here, via the conference archives. http://www.slideshare.net/webbmedia/growing-audience-for-newspapers-asne-apme-conference-2014
[3] Examine the results from the survey here. “The Personal News Cycle: How Americans choose to get their news.” American Press Institute. http://www.americanpressinstitute.org/publications/reports/survey-research/personal-news-cycle/
[4] “Advice for newspaper editors: Pay attention to Buzzfeed.” Poynter. http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/269741/advice-for-newspaper-editors-pay-attention-to-buzzfeed/
[5] “The Deep Niche,” Michael Jensen. Journal of Electronic Publishing. http://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jep/3336451.0010.206?rgn=main;view=fulltext
[6] For more notes, you can access Rosentiel’s entire PowerPoint presentation (with notes) via a download link in the Poynter article cited in Footnote 4.
The ASNE-APME Conference[1] was held in Chicago on Monday, delivering this year’s theme of “Fast Forward.” Various editorial and marketing executives, including Amy Webb, CEO of Webbmedia Group and Tom Rosentiel, American Press Institute Executive Editor, examined the fast-shifting state of reading audiences and presented important ideas for ways in which news presses and publishers might respond. As we approach this week’s newsletter with a focus on audience and readership, we take notes from these conversations as they relate to our development as future figures in the publishing industry.
A primary distinction made during the conference was the recognition that publishing needs to be necessarily shifting from a product business to a platform business. Pointing to organizations like Buzzfeed as examples, Webb suggests that “the use of data analysis to predict user behavior” in a fast-growing trend in popular online news sites that need not go unnoticed by more heavy-hitting publishers.[2] The examination of “user behavior” allows for more topic-driven publications, which cater to more specific audience segments across platforms. And as results from a survey conducted by the American Press Institute[3] show, we’ve got to figure out some way to cater to readers when they’re using up to five different platforms daily.
In his presentation, Rosentiel emphasized the idea that publishers no longer have a ‘mobile audience’ or a ‘print audience.’[4] The lines are getting blurry, and the audiences for publishers are less distinct than they were even as recently as a year ago. Rosentiel connects this with the fact that technology has become a user behavior. With multiple sources and devices available to readers across all demographics, audiences are adapting to the broad spectrum by forming habits that allow them to maintain a tighter scope on the subjects in which they are interested. The idea is to keep things subject-oriented and to keep the subjects relevant and accessible across multiple platforms. Think “Deep Niche.”[5]
To approach this behavior, Rosentiel offers publishers and journalists “Six Lessons” to grab hold of when approaching audience trends in 2014. While these lessons were written for an audience of news publishers and editors, they very clearly translate into other types of publishing organizations and their audiences.
Lesson #1: Forget demographic stereotypes. Rosentiel points out that most Americans of all ages are now cross-platform, multisource consumers. To return to the API survey referenced above, most of us readers are checking five sources daily. Do we want to also talk about how many devices we’re using to do it? Fire the stereotype, hire the habits.
Lessons #2 & #3: Topic is the biggest factor determining where people turn for news. To translate this to a broader scope of publishing: The medium is not the message—the subject is. Publishers can interpret this as the all-important mode of relevancy. Pay attention to your subject material. Rosentiel poses the question we should always be asking: What topics will you be great at? Decide, devise, and specialize.
Lesson #4: Think about creating knowledge for audiences, not just writing news stories. Taking this out of journalism and into all types of publishing, think about creating products that are audience focused.
Lesson #5: Embrace the concept of multiple audiences. Who doesn’t love diverse audiences? Like them, love them, wrap your arms around them with everything you do.
Lesson #6: Adopt leadership techniques from startup companies. Rosentiel ends all business, discussing practices we as publishers can adopt in order to better adapt to these rapidly shifting audiences. He looks at the benefits of controlled risk, human centered design, and startup testing as potential strategies that could be very worth our time and management.[6]
As audiences shift, publishers need to ready themselves to shift alongside them. The key players are flexibility and relevancy, and keeping a tight grip on who your audience is, where their sources are, and why they are reading you.
[1] American Society of News Editors-Associated Press Media Editors Conference, 2014. Conference Schedule.
[2] Webb’s entire PowerPoint Presentation on behalf of Webbmedia Group can be found here, via the conference archives. http://www.slideshare.net/webbmedia/growing-audience-for-newspapers-asne-apme-conference-2014
[3] Examine the results from the survey here. “The Personal News Cycle: How Americans choose to get their news.” American Press Institute. http://www.americanpressinstitute.org/publications/reports/survey-research/personal-news-cycle/
[4] “Advice for newspaper editors: Pay attention to Buzzfeed.” Poynter. http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/269741/advice-for-newspaper-editors-pay-attention-to-buzzfeed/
[5] “The Deep Niche,” Michael Jensen. Journal of Electronic Publishing. http://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jep/3336451.0010.206?rgn=main;view=fulltext
[6] For more notes, you can access Rosentiel’s entire PowerPoint presentation (with notes) via a download link in the Poynter article cited in Footnote 4.