LECTURE 3

Media Audiences in the digital age

ACADEMIC RESEARCH

Optimistic: More information leads to:-

Empowerment Greater choice of information Improve knowledge Strengthen grass roots democracy

ACADEMIC RESEARCH

Pessimistic

People being ‘entertained to death’ Mindlessly watching TV for hour after hour Content has dumbed down Content may influence people in negative

ways Even if there is more choice, there is a

scarcity of attention

SOME ACADEMIC AREAS OF CONCERN AND DISAGREEMENT ABOUT ‘AUDIENCES’

There is/is not some kind of good/bad influence of the news media on people

The quality of news reporting is improving/declining

Attention/interest in news is declining/increasing

People are ‘active’ or ‘passive’ viewers

People are news media ‘consumers’ or ‘citizens’

INDUSTRY RESEARCH

Almost always quantitative – counting sales,viewers, clicks…

Measures size of audience – sales and readership,

demographics, time spent reading or viewing

Information gathered is then targeted atadvertisers, competitors and news media marketing

TOP NEWS WEBSITES IN THE USWebsite Monthly visitors – 000sCNN 29,837

Yahoo! News 37,240

Digg 33,432

New York Times 14,709

USA Today 18,531

BBC News 7,863

Reuters 6,447

Washington Post 8,347

Google News n/a

Huffington Post 4,658

Fox News 8,437

LA Times 6,726

Guardian.co.uk 3,033

Times Online 2,674

MSNBC 2,840

HITWISE REPORT ON NEWS MEDIA USE IN THE UK RANKED BY VISITS FOR THE WEEK ENDING 19 FEB 2010

BBC News 16.35% BBC Homepage 14.53% BBC Weather Centre 3.60% Sky News 3.2% Yahoo! UK and Ireland 2.50% Daily Mail 2.10% The Sun 1.81% Google News UK 1.72% Telegraph 1.72% Times Online 1.62%

CONSUMPTION OF ONLINE NEWS SUPPLIED BY BROADCASTERS

The BBC had developed an impressive web presence using the licence fee

It is the only UK media organisation to feature in the UK’s top 10 web domains

200 individual websites, attract 12 million UK users and 33 overseas users

AVERAGE LENGTH OF VISIT TO A NEWS WEBSITE

Daily Mail 8.7 minutes Guardian 5.4 minutes News of the World 3.7 minutes The Sun 3.7 minutes The Times 3.3 minutes

(McKinsey (2008) ‘Reshaping Publishers for Digital’, based on surveys in UK, France, German, Italy and Spain).

ATTEMPTS TO UNDERSTAND AUDIENCES

Industry:- This is about getting people to watch, use your product

Academic:- influence, harm, benefit

PROBLEM: NEWS CONSUMPTION HABITS ARE CHANGING

The internet accounts for 23% of ‘media time’ spent by Europeans each year – and is seen to be a ‘threat’ by ‘old’ media and news providers

TV accounts for 31% of media time

Radio accounts for 28% of media time

Newspapers 10% of media time

Magazines 8% of media time

PROBLEM: DO AUDIENCES STILL BUY INTO THE JOURNALIST AS THE ‘AUTHORITY’ FIGURE?

Alan Rusbridger, Editor of the Guardian talks about a ‘tension .. Between a world in which journalists considered themselves – and were perhaps considered by others – special figures of authority’.

Journalists had the information and the access and news media audiences didn’t.

NEWS AND TRADITIONAL BROADCAST NEWS ORGANISATIONS

Audiences may appear to be self-selecting, naturally occurring formations, but they are not.

They are targeted and produced by media institutions.

But today audiences are ‘ambient’, more platform promiscuous and may want to articulate their own views

PROBLEM

The goal of winning new audiences to old platforms — using the Web to lure people to television programs or print — generally is not working.

Younger audiences, it turns out, are interested in news. But they want it from new platforms that can deliver it in new ways and on their new terms.

PROBLEM: RADIO

The audience is increasing — and fragmenting.

The growing question is which, if any, of the new audio platforms will emerge as more significant, or whether the universe of “audio” will become more and more fragmented.

satellite radioInternet radio, HD radio, podcasts, MP3/iPod Cell phone radio

PROBLEM

Audiences are getting used to the idea of being able to go straight to the information that's important to them. 

Those audiences don't need to read newspapers front to back; nor do they need to spend hours reading through a single news website.

News websites compete not with punchy headlines but with metadata designed to optimise search results, with search engines recently graduating to the role of news aggregators.

PROBLEM: NEW ENTRANTSGOOGLE NEWS

Google News doesn't write, produce or broadcast news

It collates news stories from various websites, making it easier for the reader get a snapshot.

“It's what audiences want nowadays; what they expect. That's a form of flat knowledge”

Kevin Marsh, BBC College of Journalism

INDUSTRY: UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE BETTERTYPES OF AUDIENCES 2007 (MCKINSEY’S/REUTERS’ PROFILES UK POPULATION)

CITIZEN ENTHUSIASTS

‘Feel a responsibility to know what is happening in the world

news makes them feel connected Go to multiple sources Broad and deep consumption Enjoy the ritual of keeping up with the news

INDUSTRY: UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE BETTERTYPES OF AUDIENCES 2007 (MCKINSEY’S/REUTERS’ PROFILES UK POPULATION)

A FEW MAIN SOURCES

Highly sceptical about bias, so trust few sources

Most news from TV and then radio (not online)

Do not feel time-pressured

INDUSTRY: UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE BETTERTYPES OF AUDIENCES 2007 (MCKINSEY’S/REUTERS’ PROFILES UK POPULATION)

SCEPTICAL SURFERS

Most sceptical about bias and accuracyRely on multiple sourcesLike frequent updates of online newsDon’t need news to feel connected or

intelligentDisengaged from newspapers

INDUSTRY: UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE BETTERTYPES OF AUDIENCES 2007 (MCKINSEY’S/REUTERS’ PROFILES UK POPULATION)

NEWS LOVERS

Heavily engaged in newsRely on TV and online heavilyTrusting, don’t think sources are biasedReduced breadth of readingEnjoy sources with in-depth analysisDon’t feel a responsibility to keep up with

the news

INDUSTRY: UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE BETTERTYPES OF AUDIENCES 2007 (MCKINSEY’S/REUTERS’ PROFILES UK POPULATION)

TRADITIONALISTS

Enjoy the ritual of reading a newspaperDo not feel a responsibility to keep up with

the newsDo not like online news

INDUSTRY: UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE BETTERTYPES OF AUDIENCES 2007 (MCKINSEY’S/REUTERS’ PROFILES UK POPULATION)

HEADLINERS

Like to skim headlines from a few sourcesMore interested in facts only, not deep

analysisFind news depressingTime pressuredLike the efficiency of online sources

INDUSTRY: UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE BETTERTYPES OF AUDIENCES 2007 (MCKINSEY’S/REUTERS’ PROFILES UK POPULATION)

RELUCTANT ABSORBERS

Feel the need to keep up with the news but don’t enjoy it

Reject online sourcesPrefer to be spoon-fed rather than having

to make up their own mind

INDUSTRY: UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE BETTERTYPES OF AUDIENCES 2007 (MCKINSEY’S/REUTERS’ PROFILES UK POPULATION)

REJECTERS

Actively reject the newsFind it boring/depressingDon’t have timeReject online news sources

NUMBERS (57% OF THE POPULATION)

Citizen Enthusiasts 4.4 million

Sceptical Surfers 2.8 million

News Lovers 4.0 million

Traditionalists 3.6 million

A Few Main Sources 3.2 million

Headliners 3.1 million Reluctant absorbers 3.0

million Rejecters 2.5

million

‘In a crowded marketplace the on-air look is

much more important than ever because you are looking for that point of difference.

Companies may be reining back on how much they spend on news coverage, but in a very crowded market they are very aware that they can’t skimp on packaging’.

Rob Beynon, Chief Executive of DMA Media (a news consultancy firm)

INDUSTRY RESPONSES:- CHANGE THE LOOK AND FEEL OF YOUR NEWS PROGRAMME

Brand and re-brand their product,

Change the music, logos, programme style,presentation style, presenters etc.

NEWS FASHIONS: COME AND GO

Male or female presenter only Male and younger female presenter together Flashy studio, or newsroom backdrop Flashy graphics and new ‘idents’ Sofas Cosy chats with the weather presenter, formal

presentations, serious and light-hearted moments

Dramatic large screens, small screens The presenter walks around, stands up, sits

down, shuffles paper, or only uses hi-tech etc. etc.

THE BBC BRAND MID-1990S

ITN PRESENTATION

In the late 1990s an original ITN logo from the 1970s was brought back into use and the familiar shot of Big Ben and the 'bongs' were used for all its programmes.

“Our belief was that a news programme should communicate honesty, transparency and plain dealing... “

BIG BEN USED IN MANY SHOTS: SYMBOLISES AUTHORITY, POWER, CONTINUITY…

ITV EVENING NEWS

FROM 2000 STUDIO SETS HAVE BEEN RESTYLED AND MADE EVEN MORE ‘VISUALLY INTERESTING’

ITV’S THEATRE OF NEWS FOR ITS 2004 RELAUNCH

JANUARY 2008 RE-LAUNCH OF NEWS AT TEN; MORE TRADITIONAL

FASHIONS

‘I want to get away from the chilly, macho technology of news and bring back the human being, which is why we’re calling the news programme Five News with Natasha Kaplinsky’

Chris Shaw, February 2008

INDUSTRY RESPONSES:- CHANGE THE LOOK AND FEEL OF YOUR NEWS PROGRAMME

the BBC recently launch new-look idents for BBC News on Monday with a mantra that seems to be based on the idea of "let there be light".

A straw poll of MediaGuardian.co.uk staff on their first impressions of the new idents drew remarks that the central globe looked a bit like a "giant beach ball" or perhaps "an orange being re-peeled".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/organgrinder/2008/apr/16/thebbcisgearingup

GRAPHICS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI8_DDEuswk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNSqQbD70Ms&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY13zDH0HDA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7VhPSOa6rg&feature=related

PROMOS

http://tvnewsroom.co.uk/itv/itv-news/itv-news-promo-been-there/

INDUSTRY: TALK ABOUT ‘THE END OF NEWS SCENARIO’

News isn't about news anymore. It's about predictions, speculations, recap, taking a look at tomorrow's papers or yesterday's papers, possibly even last Thursday's papers.

We, as consumers of continuous news, surf the infinite choice of networks, pressing the button immediately an item loses our interest, desperate for something to hold our interest, moving on as soon as we are bored.

Flattening out of knowledge – people go to many places

CHARLIE BROOKER: ‘NEWSWIPE’

‘Reviews the news as though it were an entertainment show’

TV news now comes packaged as a dazzling CGI cartoon, with the names of star anchors included in the programme title, and an absurdly theatrical air of bombast underpinning every second of every broadcast.

IN BROOKER’S COMEDIC SHOW

For him, the news seems to consist solely ofFinancial apocalypse, celebrity illness,

terrorism,and spree killings. They may as well replace

SkyNews with a channel called Abyss 24; a dark,bottomless chasm for the viewer to stare into.

Although it might prove hard to sell advertising

space

CHARLIE BROOKER’S OBSERVATIONS

Things I've learned from watching the news'If it bleeds, it leads‘

“It's a cliche, but a depressingly accurate one. On the day thousands of people took to the streets of Northern Ireland to denounce violence, their efforts were shunted down the news menu by a lone German maniac's random shooting spree. Bad news wins”.

CONCLUSIONS

News agendas are being determined by audiencehabits and broadcasters’ desire to attract audiences/media users to programmes and onlineservices

does this change what is news?

are news values (more celebrity, sensational stories etc…) changing along with news styles?

why is TV news so easy to satirise?