Whether it is a question of trust, interest or willingness to buy, how audiences will interact with digital news next year and beyond is key to your newsroom's success.
As we bring 2022 to a close, we asked three experts for their predictions for journalism in 2023 with audiences in mind.
Other articles in this series:
- Predictions for journalism in 2023: social platforms and news publishers
- Predictions for journalism in 2023: diversity and mental health
- Predictions for journalism in 2023: AI and tech
- Predictions for journalism in 2023: newsroom leadership, product, and revenue
- Predictions for journalism in 2023: public interest news
Audience trust and news avoidance: Mary Walter-Brown, founder and CEO of News Revenue Hub
As the "selective news avoidance" phenomenon spreads, and news audiences turn away, shrink and become more homogenised, newsrooms will have to make real investments in listening and responding to their communities’ information needs and preferences.
To stay relevant, news organisations must be willing to abandon old habits and assumptions, including the idea that news consumers will seek them out, read whatever they publish, accept it as truth and wait for the next installment.
Next generation newsrooms know that simply producing content is not enough; we now have to understand the psychology and sociology behind what issues to cover, and the most effective way to distribute that news and information back into communities so it reaches and resonates with the people who need it.
Newsrooms need clear metrics that help them make a major (not micro) difference. These metrics centre around important digital news data points like audience loyalty, reader contributions, and email conversion, but should also include grassroots community engagement, representation and, most importantly, community satisfaction, i.e. how well are we doing our jobs?
Journalism producers need new skills, beyond just reporting, to truly understand and serve their constituents. If newsrooms are not willing to adapt and invest in their communities; it is not fair to expect communities to invest in them.
Read more from 2022:
- 'News avoidance in free fall': Digital News Report 2022
- Can reader call-outs close the gap between newsrooms and audiences?
- David Bornstein: 11 years of lessons from the NYT's Fixes column
- Podcast: The Bureau Local on getting out of the newsroom and into the community
Audience expectations on TikTok: Sophia Smith Galer, senior news reporter, Vice News and journo-influencer (450k TikTok followers)
My prediction is that news creators will have to increase their production value when making vertical video.
This may not be explicitly visual – it may be that creators are finding that they are having to research and script for longer, as opposed to dramatically change how their TikToks look. But I can see a world where we all have to start using a lot more visual devices to maintain audience interest for the longer viewing times that platforms like TikTok are now encouraging us to create and engage for.
An increase in expectation of production value means content takes longer to create, and is more expensive to create, demanding more skill and patience. One of the beauties of the app in the beginning was that it was not always like this. That is how people like me could squeeze it around a full-time job and social life. News creators will now need the resources and training to meet that challenge.
Read more from 2022:
- Why do news publishers struggle to embrace TikTok?
- RISJ research: Publishers embrace TikTok despite no monetisation options
- Journo-influencers are good for newsrooms, but they need support
- Podcast: Openly News on growing an LGBTQ+ brand on TikTok
Audience willingness to pay: Kellie Riordan, founder of Deadset Studios, founding editor of ABC Audio studios
2023 will bring about the great unsubscribe. News consumers are overloaded, often overwhelmed by the volume of content they consume and are fed. This will mean audiences are starting to more actively curate the content they want, and with that the great unsubscribe.
Whether it is reducing the number of streaming platforms they pay for, or limiting the number of email newsletters they consume, or culling the number of podcasts they follow, in the age of information overload audiences will now be pickier with what they consume (even if it is free content).
Niche content will grow. New consumers will look for content that is tailored to their needs, desires, and wants. Whether it is a deep-dive sports newsletter, or a podcast about climate action, audiences will want trusted, quality niche content that feels made for them.
Read more from 2022:
- Newsrewired: How should publishers rethink reader revenue in a changing world?
- Quartz pivots from paywall to registration wall, making the bulk of online content free-to-read
- Tortoise Media says its audio journalism is profitable, but its business model is not
- Podcast: Semafor, on a new brand of transparent journalism
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