Changing consumer habits can be an opportunity for #News – if willing to change own habits!
That is my key learning from Reuters 2022 Digital News Report.
Two findings stuck with me the most: firstly, that more and more people do not want to consume news any longer. Secondly, that younger #audiences access news in a different way.
Now, you might say: that is not news for the News industry, isn’t it?
If you dive deeper, you will nevertheless and hopefully discover some new aspects.
If people say, they do not WANT to consume news any longer, it means they make a deliberate decision to do so. It is not that they just so happen to not have access any longer, do not need it anymore or have seized to use it by chance. It is an active choice.
The data reveals that many non-news-user do not want to be bothered with all the negativity that comes with consuming news. They are tired of the ‘bad news’, of the confusion and confrontation it stirs – they are overwhelmed. News consumption is a heavy, painful task for them – and that causes them to avoid it.
Then you have lots of audiences – and mainly younger, more digital-alert ones – who nowadays do consume news but access it ‘easily’ and rather nonchalantly through so-called ‘side doors’. They most often consume news via a social media (#TikTok being the hottest kid in town) or in the context of light entertainment formats. A great example for this you can find in German TV by comedian type artists such as Joko Winterscheidt and Klaas Heufer-Umlauf in their show “Joko & Klaas”.
The example of these audiences demonstrates that news can be light, entertaining, and accessible for any type of audience.
Maybe instead of always trying to be a bit too patronizing with our audiences, it is time for news to rethink how we can service news in a more digestible and delightful fashion. It is not the consumer who has to change, it is the way that News is being produced and delivered that has to change.
And that is a great opportunity for all kinds of news – especially local and niche.
#digitalnewsreport2022 #reuters Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
#tvnews #newstv #tvstrategy #strategy #tvconsumption #tventertainment #broadcastindustry #streaming #otttv #entertainment #leadership
