Thursday, April 10, 2008
Media fails miserably to reach younger audiences
I reside in Minneapolis where a longtime weatherman and one of the Twin Cities' best-known media personalities was released from WCCO-TV last week.
CBS said his cut, as well as the cut of a weekend anchor, were part of nationwide cuts in response to dwindling ad revenue and TV viewership, a sluggish economy, and stiff competition from the Internet.
As a former newspaper editor and now a book author that does media interviews, I know the media world quite well and I take great interest in how the generational shift is affecting the media.
Let’s be frank: Generations X and Y aren’t relying on newspapers or watching television news as their primary sources of information. Media corporations will cite the Internet and economy and make all sorts of excuses for their decline, but the simple fact is they are irrelevant to younger generations.
That’s why daily newspaper circulation has declined every year since 1987, when the oldest Gen Xers were entering college.
That's also why Americans ages 35-49 (mostly Xers), watch more cable TV and video on-demand programs than broadcast television, and ages 18-34 (Xers and Ys) spend more time online.
Traditional news is struggling to compete in a media-savvy world, which begs the question: Will traditional media formats be able to survive?
I have read articles and blogs on this topic, many authored by Boomers, which go into great, excruciating detail about things like column widths and frequency of Internet broadcasts and such. A lot of meaningless prattle, if you ask me.
Knowing what I know about journalism and Gen X and Y, I think there are three simple keys to reaching these audiences that have been seriously overlooked.
Meaning
My husband and I have this on-going joke about all news being bad news. Sometimes at night we’ll roll through the network television stations to see which station has the most depressing story. We also joke about the in-depth weather forecasts, which take up increasingly more broadcast time.
Seriously though, not every police chase or storm brewing makes for a news story. Not by today’s standards.
The Boomers and the generations that preceded them wanted to know about all the goings-on in their communities and world. In fact, since journalism began the same news format has been cultivated and expected, which was to give a birds-eye view of the world and your place in it.
In contrast, my generation and the generations to follow prefer an individual view. In other words, we want news that is meaningful and relevant to our lives. News we can actually use to improve our lives. We don’t want to waste our time feeling hopeless, fearful, or depressed. What’s the point of that?
Today’s young adults are family-focused, career-driven and inspired to serve others. We spend a great deal of time caring for others, trying to get ahead and do good, so when it comes to being informed and entertained, we filter the information we receive so we can feel inspired, happy, and fulfilled.
Customization
I remember hearing a presentation by a marketing executive who worked for a newspaper. She said when you subscribed to a newspaper, you certainly weren’t expected to read all of it, but you did have to buy all of it.
During the past few years, media executives have begun to realize just how ludicrous that philosophy is to the next generation of media consumers, and that we willingly exercise our right to not ‘buy all of it.’
For example, my husband and I are both entrepreneurs. He’s also an avid sports fan, but we stopped subscribing to the local newspaper because we only read the business and sports sections with consistency. We decided that we could just as easily obtain this information on-line, and tossing away the other five sections of the paper without even looking at them was wasteful and irresponsible.
The only way newspapers and television news can compete is to provide customization.
When the Internet arrived, it introduced a whole new set of expectations for information delivery and the scope and speed of customer service. Gen X grew accustomed to it, and Gen Y grew up with it.
Furthermore, news has been redefined by bloggers, YouTube, and even celebrity news programs. So, like it or not, journalists are no longer the keepers of the information and the public wants and expects access to the news they want and when they want it.
For television news, this means creating programming that is topic-specific. Many local television stations will air morning, afternoon, evening, and late night news segments with minor differences in coverage. Why not use some of this air time to create programming specific to younger generations, such as an education program, parenting, or business program?
For newspapers, this means thinking of each section as its own newspaper and giving subscribers the option of purchasing the sections they want to receive.
Each program or section could then be complimented by microsites on-line where viewers and readers could go for more information and social networking.
Engagement
Until now, media outlets always had a captive audience. Today, they are fighting to be relevant and meaningful to a seriously fragmented and diminishing audience, which means they need to think seriously about how they market to and engage the next generation.
It starts with getting younger people involved as writers, producers and anchors, and advisory board members. Give them the chance to create the news and see what happens. What’s meaningful and relevant in their lives? How does it differ from the 30-somethings to the 20-somethings and teenagers?
Far too few media outlets spend much time, effort, or resources on these demographics, which doesn’t make any sense. We are the market influencers and we are also the ones who are turning away from traditional media.
Isn't it obvious? If media is going to win the favor of younger audiences, they have to start thinking about what's important to us and abandon the traditions of the past.
So far, media has failed miserably in this quest.
As a senior editor of American Journalism Review recently blogged:
“Why didn't they (media) capture the market in online classifieds, long before Craigslist? Why didn't they become the home base for local video, long before YouTube? Why didn't they recognize the power of social connections, long before Facebook? Preoccupied with trying to save their old model, they barely glanced up as one potential pot of gold after another floated right past them.”
CBS said his cut, as well as the cut of a weekend anchor, were part of nationwide cuts in response to dwindling ad revenue and TV viewership, a sluggish economy, and stiff competition from the Internet.
As a former newspaper editor and now a book author that does media interviews, I know the media world quite well and I take great interest in how the generational shift is affecting the media.
Let’s be frank: Generations X and Y aren’t relying on newspapers or watching television news as their primary sources of information. Media corporations will cite the Internet and economy and make all sorts of excuses for their decline, but the simple fact is they are irrelevant to younger generations.
That’s why daily newspaper circulation has declined every year since 1987, when the oldest Gen Xers were entering college.
That's also why Americans ages 35-49 (mostly Xers), watch more cable TV and video on-demand programs than broadcast television, and ages 18-34 (Xers and Ys) spend more time online.
Traditional news is struggling to compete in a media-savvy world, which begs the question: Will traditional media formats be able to survive?
I have read articles and blogs on this topic, many authored by Boomers, which go into great, excruciating detail about things like column widths and frequency of Internet broadcasts and such. A lot of meaningless prattle, if you ask me.
Knowing what I know about journalism and Gen X and Y, I think there are three simple keys to reaching these audiences that have been seriously overlooked.
Meaning
My husband and I have this on-going joke about all news being bad news. Sometimes at night we’ll roll through the network television stations to see which station has the most depressing story. We also joke about the in-depth weather forecasts, which take up increasingly more broadcast time.
Seriously though, not every police chase or storm brewing makes for a news story. Not by today’s standards.
The Boomers and the generations that preceded them wanted to know about all the goings-on in their communities and world. In fact, since journalism began the same news format has been cultivated and expected, which was to give a birds-eye view of the world and your place in it.
In contrast, my generation and the generations to follow prefer an individual view. In other words, we want news that is meaningful and relevant to our lives. News we can actually use to improve our lives. We don’t want to waste our time feeling hopeless, fearful, or depressed. What’s the point of that?
Today’s young adults are family-focused, career-driven and inspired to serve others. We spend a great deal of time caring for others, trying to get ahead and do good, so when it comes to being informed and entertained, we filter the information we receive so we can feel inspired, happy, and fulfilled.
Customization
I remember hearing a presentation by a marketing executive who worked for a newspaper. She said when you subscribed to a newspaper, you certainly weren’t expected to read all of it, but you did have to buy all of it.
During the past few years, media executives have begun to realize just how ludicrous that philosophy is to the next generation of media consumers, and that we willingly exercise our right to not ‘buy all of it.’
For example, my husband and I are both entrepreneurs. He’s also an avid sports fan, but we stopped subscribing to the local newspaper because we only read the business and sports sections with consistency. We decided that we could just as easily obtain this information on-line, and tossing away the other five sections of the paper without even looking at them was wasteful and irresponsible.
The only way newspapers and television news can compete is to provide customization.
When the Internet arrived, it introduced a whole new set of expectations for information delivery and the scope and speed of customer service. Gen X grew accustomed to it, and Gen Y grew up with it.
Furthermore, news has been redefined by bloggers, YouTube, and even celebrity news programs. So, like it or not, journalists are no longer the keepers of the information and the public wants and expects access to the news they want and when they want it.
For television news, this means creating programming that is topic-specific. Many local television stations will air morning, afternoon, evening, and late night news segments with minor differences in coverage. Why not use some of this air time to create programming specific to younger generations, such as an education program, parenting, or business program?
For newspapers, this means thinking of each section as its own newspaper and giving subscribers the option of purchasing the sections they want to receive.
Each program or section could then be complimented by microsites on-line where viewers and readers could go for more information and social networking.
Engagement
Until now, media outlets always had a captive audience. Today, they are fighting to be relevant and meaningful to a seriously fragmented and diminishing audience, which means they need to think seriously about how they market to and engage the next generation.
It starts with getting younger people involved as writers, producers and anchors, and advisory board members. Give them the chance to create the news and see what happens. What’s meaningful and relevant in their lives? How does it differ from the 30-somethings to the 20-somethings and teenagers?
Far too few media outlets spend much time, effort, or resources on these demographics, which doesn’t make any sense. We are the market influencers and we are also the ones who are turning away from traditional media.
Isn't it obvious? If media is going to win the favor of younger audiences, they have to start thinking about what's important to us and abandon the traditions of the past.
So far, media has failed miserably in this quest.
As a senior editor of American Journalism Review recently blogged:
“Why didn't they (media) capture the market in online classifieds, long before Craigslist? Why didn't they become the home base for local video, long before YouTube? Why didn't they recognize the power of social connections, long before Facebook? Preoccupied with trying to save their old model, they barely glanced up as one potential pot of gold after another floated right past them.”
Labels: American Journalism Review, CBS, Generation X, Generation Y, media, newspapers, television news
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