When It Comes In Waves, Learn To Surf

Michael Hedges June 16, 2014 - Follow on Twitter

Change has always driven the news. Without change there is no news. Imagine being the weather reporter in Mauritius; sunny today, sunny tomorrow. The digital dividend for news organizations has meant considerable change, disruption and, for some, fun.

More “disruption” coming was the biggest takeaway from the latest Digital News Report from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University released last week. News organizations will face a second wave of changes and challenges as smartphones and Facebook have become the distribution means of choice for younger news users, warned the report based on a ten-country YouGov study. The arrival of the World Wide Web, apparently, was the first disruptive wave, catching all news organizations off-guard and dispatching many to the undertow.

Digital news users in all countries surveyed are increasingly accessing news content from smartphones. PCs and laptops remain the digital access point of choice by a wide margin but mobile access is growing, driven not insignificantly by falling monthly data plan charges. Digital news users tend to access fewer sources with smartphones.

Social media is avidly followed by news organizations, a bit less by digital news users. Being the best known social media platform in the world Facebook is, unsurprisingly, the top social network for news, averaging 35% usage across the ten countries. News “snacking” through other well-known social networks varies by country; Twitter biggest in Spain, the UK and the US, inconsequential in Finland and Germany. Italian and French online news users tend to go to YouTube. “Twitter users are actively interested in the news and tend to seek it out,” observed report author Nic Newman. “Facebook users tend to bump into the news.”

The good news for legacy news providers is online users are still, largely, attached to the providers they know. “Established news brands have retained their loyalty in the more competitive online environment,” wrote Reuters Institute director David Levy in the introduction, “but the rapid growth of social media as a way of discovering and consuming news has a range of possible ramifications.” 

Some of that attachment has migrated directly to journalists, which may or may not be good news for their employers. In France, Spain and the US the name on the byline is important. Nearly half the Twitter-enabled online news users in the UK follow at least one journalist. Then, too, big name writers and reporters can easily – and cheaply - set-up their own online portal, land a few hundred subscribers and compete with the legacy news brands.

“Digital and social media seem to be encouraging journalism with a human face,” said Mr. Newman. “In an increasingly competitive market there is likely to be an increasing economic premium attached to the very best writers and journalists.” 

Getting people to pay directly for news online continues to occupy the attention of most all news organization CEO, CFO, board member, shareholder, editor, writer and receptionist. Alas, the data shows “very little change in the absolute number of people paying for digital news over the past year.” Across the ten countries surveyed, about 10% of respondents had paid for news online in the past year; more in Brazil, less in the UK. But significantly more - 59% from 43%, on year on - are subscribing to online news services, which may reflect a generally improving economic outlook. Online news subscribers, said the study, tend to be male university educated news junkies with tablets.

While technology and platform preference remain the focus of attention for publishers, demonstrated by report’s orientation, content preferences for digital news users is a significant part of this second wave of disruption. Hard news – the important stuff – drives digital news just like it does old media platforms. The aggregator and social media effect, however, is a narrowing of interests as “people are less exposed to a broad news agenda” and “some people may operate in a news echo chamber where they are less likely to be exposed to other content through chance.”

Content specifics vary though national news attracts most interest country to country. Depending on a countries size and geo-political histories local and regional news is very important, particularly in the US and Germany. News about “the economy” attracts more interest from digital news users than business news. Political news is of interest to more than half of digital news users in Japan, Denmark, Germany and Italy.

Sports news is, of course, big digital news, particularly in Spain and Brazil, less so in the US where sports is the domain of television. Arts and culture news are of most interest in Brazil and Italy and least in Germany and the US. Rising in interest is “fun or weird” news, like the closing item on traditional TV newscasts of surfing warthogs. There’s a reasonably significant following in Japan, France and Italy, not so much in Germany. It’s about zeitgeist.

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